Israel's Culture Minister Miki Zohar drew condemnation from several high-profile cultural figures after he nominated three prominent Netanyahu supporters to the panel selecting judges for the prizes
About a hundred Israeli writers, poets, translators and editors said on Wednesday that they will not submit their works for the literary awards presented by the Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar to protest his choice of board of trustees that would nominate the judges of the prizes.
The statement sent to the press is signed amongst others by leading writers many of whom won awards in the past. Among them are Haim Be’er, Dror Mishani, Zeruya Shalev, Orly Castel-Bloom, Dorit Rabinyan and Noa Yadlin.
The awards presented by the culture ministry are amongst the rare financial grants given by the government in support of Israeli literature. They include the Prime Minister’s Prize for Hebrew Literary Works (also known as the Levi Eshkol Literary Award), the award for best debut book of the year, translation awards, children’s and youth literature awards, and more.
Earlier this week, Zohar announced his selection for the board of trustees that selects the judges of the prizes includes Haaretz’s columnist and literary supplement editor Benny Ziffer, who had already declined the appointment, publicist Nave Dromi and right-wing commentator Dr. Gadi Taub. The three are widely identified as supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We, writers, editors and translators, declare that we will not submit our literary works to any of the government award committees appointed in this fashion,” the statement reads.
“The awards are an unparalleled and essential source of financial support and a sign of quality in the different fields of literary work. [Yet] this is only true when they are awarded by judges with appropriate literary knowledge, reputation and worldview. Political appointment of judges recruited by a government that aspires to dictatorship damages the awards’ credibility and empties them of value.”
The Culture and Sports Ministry declined to respond to the incident.