AL-QUDS (Dispatches) – Zionist education minister Yoav Galant has announced his decision to deny the awarding of the so-called Israel Prize to Oded Goldreich, a renowned computer scientist from the Weizmann Institute of Science.
In March, Galant refused to approve the prize committee’s recommendation to award the prize to Goldreich, saying that he supports the pro-Palestinian boycott movement against the occupying regime (BDS) including a boycott against Ariel University in the West Bank.
The committee then petitioned the regime’s high court, and it ruled that the minister will take a final decision within a month.
Goldreich stated in court that he is behind the recent signing of a petition calling on the European Union to stop cooperation with Ariel University.
Meanwhile, presidents of many universities urged Galant to lift the veto he imposed on awarding the prize to the scientist.
In his letter to the regime’s attorney general, Galant said he has decided to deny the prize to the scientist as “his contribution as a researcher is nullified by his ongoing actions aiming to harm Israel and parts of its academia, especially Ariel University.”
The BDS movement, which is modeled after the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, was initiated in 2005 by over 170 Palestinian organizations that were pushing for “various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law.”
Thousands of volunteers worldwide have since then joined the BDS movement, which calls for people and groups across the world to cut economic, cultural, and academic ties to Tel Aviv, to help promote the Palestinian cause.