Eva Illouz-Israel Prize: Quick on the spot

The rejection was expected as well as approval: the sociologist Eva Illouz had long stood on the waiting list for the Israel Prize, the highest cultural award in the country. And from the beginning it was also clear: that won’t be without drama. Because Illouz is not only one of the most renowned humanities scholars of Israel; It is also one of the sharpest and most intelligent critics of the right-wing conservative government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and above all: from their settlement and occupation policy.

Now that the 63-year-old was announced this year, Education Minister Yoav Kisch was quickly on hand to ask the jury to rethink the decision. “Detached from her academic achievements” Illouz contacted an international institution, “who works against Israel, against Israeli soldiers and relatives of the security services and slandered the basics of the state”.

In 2021, Illouz, together with 180 Israeli academics and intellectuals, asked the then chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court of Fatouh Bensouda not to rely on the Israeli state when investigating allegations with regard to the crew of the Palestinian areas. In March 2021, Bensouda officially initiated investigations into the possible war crimes in West Bank and Gaza Strip. Due to the Gaza War, the criminal court issued an arrest warrant in 2024 against Netanyahu, among other things, Galant.

This is a red cloth for Israel’s rights. Many parliamentarians of the coalition be evaluated that ten Israel award winners were among the signatories as evidence that the jury is “left” and that the award must be regulated more. Interventions in the decisions of the jury have been tradition since Netanyahu came into office in 2009.

This is possible because the Minister of Education has the last word when awarding. Theoretically, because the veto was repeatedly challenged in front of the Supreme Court. 2021, for example, the mathematician Oded Goldreich should receive the price. But he had also criticized the occupation policy. It was only months later that he was honored in a small circle after the supreme judges had intervened. It is unclear whether the Illouz complaint will also be filed.

Even conservative media see interventions in the award ceremony as an attack on freedom of expression, which is traditionally very far interpreted in Israel and also allows very hard, sometimes also insulting statements. Governments would also have to accept different opinions, it says in the comments.

However, the topic does not attract a lot of attention. After all, Netanyahu and his people are currently in the process of firing the Attorney General, converting the judiciary and increasing taxes and distributing money gifts to their own clientele during the now ongoing budget consultations.

And again and again tens of thousands take the street against the war in the Gaza Strip, demand a ceasefire and the return of the hostages still held in Gaza. As much as the government endeavors to portray people like Illouz as “hostile to Israel” and radical minority – a look at the street shows that they are now part of the mainstream.