Former Bezalel Academy President, Prof. Eva Illouz, will not receive 2025 Israel Prize for Sociology following committee deadlock on ICJ decision.
Professor Eva Illouz, who had been nominated for the 2025 Israel Prize in Sociology, will not receive the prestigious award after the selection committee failed to reach a unanimous decision.
The committee was reconvened at the request of Education Minister Yoav Kisch, following public controversy sparked by Prof. Illouz’s letter to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which expressed criticism of the State of Israel.
Prof. Illouz is a faculty member in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and formerly served as President of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design.
At the end of March, Minister Kisch clarified that his decision was not related to Prof. Illouz’s academic contributions, but rather to her participation in a 2021 petition to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The petition urged the Court not to rely exclusively on Israeli authorities in investigations related to alleged war crimes.
Following the decision, Prof. Illouz published a column in *Haaretz*, stating: “My case—the revocation of the Israel Prize on political grounds—is significant only insofar as it reflects a deeper ailment afflicting Israeli society. I will not retract my signature, as I refuse to yield to attempts to coerce citizens who are striving for the nation’s future to submit to a minister’s decree.”Professor Eva Illouz, who had been nominated for the 2025 Israel Prize in Sociology, will not receive the prestigious award after the selection committee failed to reach a unanimous decision.
The committee was reconvened at the request of Education Minister Yoav Kisch, following public controversy sparked by Prof. Illouz’s letter to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which expressed criticism of the State of Israel.
Prof. Illouz is a faculty member in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and formerly served as President of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design.
At the end of March, Minister Kisch clarified that his decision was not related to Prof. Illouz’s academic contributions, but rather to her participation in a 2021 petition to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The petition urged the Court not to rely exclusively on Israeli authorities in investigations related to alleged war crimes.
Following the decision, Prof. Illouz published a column in *Haaretz*, stating: “My case—the revocation of the Israel Prize on political grounds—is significant only insofar as it reflects a deeper ailment afflicting Israeli society. I will not retract my signature, as I refuse to yield to attempts to coerce citizens who are striving for the nation’s future to submit to a minister’s decree.”
