One of the winners of the 2018 Dan David Prize (prestigious Israeli award) decided to give the prize money to three Israeli human rights organizations defending the rights of the Palestinians.
82-year-old American Jewish professor Evelyn Fox Keller one of nine people who received the award at Tel Aviv University Sunday night told Haaretz newspaper she would give the money to B’Tselem the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Physicians for Human Rights.
According to Haaretz the scientist and feminist thinker said “the moment she found out she had won the prize she decided she could accept it only if she gave the money to organizations combating Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians.”
Asked why she did not just refuse the prize since it is granted by an Israeli university which is part of the Israeli political system she replied “I didn’t see it that way. I am accepting the prize in support of people who resist the system. I didn’t see what would be served by turning it down. As a political statement it is stronger if I take the prize and give it away.”
The interview with Fox Keller took place last Thursday less than 24 hours after she landed in Israel.
She also told Haaretz that 10 years ago when she visited Israel she had said then that Israeli violations against the Palestinians made her feel ashamed of being Jewish.
“I said [then that] Israel makes me ashamed of being a Jew” she added. “Yes I feel the same today.”
