Israel Prize

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The Israel Prize is the most prestigious award handed out by the State of Israel. It is presented annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state ceremony in Jerusalem, in the presence of the President, the Prime Minister, the Knesset (Israel's legislature) chairperson, and the Supreme Court president. The prize was set up in 1953 at the initiative of the Minister of Education Ben-Tzur Dinor, who himself went on to win the prize in 1958 and 1973.

1 Awarding the prize
2 Controversy
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Awarding the prize

The prize is awarded in the following four areas, with the precise subfields changing from year to year in a cycle of 4 to 7 years, except for the last area, which is awarded annually:

the humanities, social sciences, and Jewish studies
the natural and exact sciences
culture, arts, communication and sports
lifetime achievement and exceptional contribution to the nation (since 1972)

The recipients of the prize are Israeli citizens or organizations who have displayed excellence in their field(s), or have contributed strongly to Israeli culture. The winners are selected by committees of judges, who pass on their recommendations to the Education Minister.

Prize winners are elected by ad-hoc committees, appointed by the minister of education for each category each year. Decisions of the committee must be unanimous.

As of 2004, the prize has been awarded 551 times. Prominent winners include Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Aharon Appelfeld, Abba Eban, Leah Goldberg, Israel Aumann, Michael O. Rabin and Saharon Shelah. Though the prize is generally awarded to Israeli citizens only, in exceptional cases it can be awarded to non-Israelis who have held Israeli residency for many years. Zubin Mehta won the Israel Prize in 1991. Mehta is originally from India, and is Music Director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

The prize money was 50,000 NIS as of 2006.

[edit] Controversy

The decision to award the prize to specific individuals has sometimes led to impassioned political debate. In 1993, the strong reaction against the nomination of Yeshayahu Leibowitz led Leibowitz to decline the prize. In 2004, the Education and Culture Minister, Limor Livnat, twice sent the decision to award the prize to sculptor Yigal Tumarkin back to the prize committee.

On occasion, the committee has been criticised for failing to award the prize to a specific individual. For example, many have expressed criticism (or regret) that the poet Natan Yonatan never received the prize.^{[verification needed]}

Another criticism of the prize is that the large majority of winners have been male and Jewish. Non-Jewish winners so far include Israeli ambassador Ali Yahya, actor Makram Khouri, Druze leader Sheikh Amin Tarif, writer Emile Habibi and theologian Marcel-Jacques Dubois. This criticism is difficult to address as most of those eligible for the prize are Jewish.