Prominent left-wing artist Yair Garbuz had the Israel Prize in the bag, or so he thought, but at the last moment, Minister of Education Naftali Bennet intervened and prevented him from becoming a recipient.
Members of Bennet’s staff told the media he did not intervene and had no hand in the decision-making process, but simply acted as he should when it became clear the committee could not reach a decision.
Garbuz is known for his utter disdain of the right-wing, always referring to the “handful who do not represent Israeli society” when referring to this community, refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of this tzibur. His mockery and disdain for the right-wing extends to the religious too, as he referred to in the past “those who kiss amulets and bow at graves of the righteous”, citing how the majority (him and his cohorts) are being tyrannized by the few (the right-wing and religious).
The committee convened twice to close the decision on Garbuz as recipient of the prize for Plastic Art but one of the four members would not agree. When they planned to meet with a third time, Bennet intervened and prevented and that meeting was not held. As a result, the prize for Plastic Art will not be awarded in 2017 since the decision of the committee must be unanimous.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
And what is Plastic Art when it is at home? Best thing to do would be to scrap this waste of money prize entirely. One hates to think how much money was wasted on two meetings of the four judges. Is it possible to make FOI requests in Israel?