Professor Oded Goldreich was awarded the Israel Prize for his work in mathematics and computer science Monday, following a nearly year-long political battle and efforts to prevent him from doing so.
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Goldreich is a computer scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot and was nominated due to his work in computational complexity.
The battle began in April 2021 when then-Education Minister Yoav Galant denied Goldreich the prize due to his support for a boycott of an Israeli university in Judea and Samaria.
The decision was upheld by current Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton, who stated her refusal was based on Goldreich's "calls for the boycott of an academic institution in Israel."
However, the High Court of Justice decided in a 2-1 ruling last month that Goldreich must be awarded the prize, following a petition by the members of the Israel Prize committee who had initially decided to bestow the award.
After receiving the prize, Goldreich said, "I would like to say something slightly political. The story is incomplete without mentioning the price that another nation paid for our rebirth, and our moral commitment to try our utmost to compensate and not oppress another nation. We, of course, are doing the opposite."
The prize is usually awarded during a public ceremony on Independence Day, but Goldfreich waived that honor, having received the award at the offices of the Education Ministry instead.
Moreover, the prize is traditionally presented to the winner by the education minister, however, Shasha-Biton skipped the ceremony.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
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