Oded Goldreich, a professor at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science who is set to receive the Israel Prize in mathematics and computer science next week on Israel's Independence Day, signed a petition on March 23 calling for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions in Judea and Samaria.
Earlier in March, Education Minister Yoav Gallant (Likud) demanded that the Israel Prize selection committee rescind its decision to award Goldreich with the prestigious prize due to his support for BDS, which Goldreich subsequently denied.
Gallant cited a 2019 open letter signed by 240 Israeli and Jewish academics – including Goldreich – that called on the German government to reject its historic resolution equating BDS with anti-Semitism. The letter also urged Germany to continue funding organizations, including pro-BDS NGOs, that “peacefully challenge the Israeli occupation” and “expose severe violations of international law.”
But eight days after Goldreich denied his support for the BDS, he signed a petition advocating the boycott of Israeli academic institutions in Judea and Samaria, notably Ariel University.
"Research projects should not be used to legitimize or otherwise sustain illegal Israeli settlements," read the petition signed by Goldreich and initiated by the "No Ariel Ties" group dedicated toward boycotting Ariel University.
The petition, signed by 522 academics in Israel and abroad, called on the European Union to "ensure that its taxpayer-funded research programmes are not used to legitimize or otherwise sustain the establishment and the activities of Israeli academic institutions in illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory."
The Zionist watchdog group Im Tirtzu, one of Israel's leading advocates against anti-Zionist politicization in academia that first reported the petition, said that Goldreich does not deserve a prize from the State of Israel.
"The BDS movement and other anti-Israel movements are bolstered by Goldreich's actions and by the actions of other Israeli academics who similarly sign slanderous petitions and support boycotts," said Im Tirtzu.
Im Tirtzu added that "Goldreich's desire to receive the prize is embarrassing given how negatively he views the country. If he was truly a man of principles he would boycott the prize as well. Either way, it is a shame that Israel is considering giving a prize to someone who slanders it and works to undermine its legitimacy."
The watchdog group added that Goldreich has a long history of anti-Zionist activity, which includes signing a petition encouraging the United Methodist Church to divest from "companies that enable the occupation to continue"; accusing Israel of the "slaughter of large numbers of wholly innocent people" in Gaza; and signing a petition in "support and appreciation" of students and lecturers who illegally refused to carry out their IDF service in Judea and Samaria.