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May. 7, 2021 12:10 AM
Education Minister Yoav Gallant can be pleased. Not for his personal conduct or for the way his ministry functioned during the coronavirus crisis, but for an invention he may wish to patent: the establishment of a tribunal for the examination of political opinions, particularly ones that right-wing governments wish to keep hidden.
That is the real significance of Weizmann Institute Prof. Oded Goldreich’s invitation to a hearing concerning his opinions and political activity over the last 16 years. This is part of an “examination process now being conducted regarding your candidacy for receiving the Israel Prize,” as the official letter drily notes.
Knesset member Eitan Ginzburg at the Knesset, on April 29, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
After they became empty, Netanyahu repeatedly resisted calls to fill the ministries with permanent replacements, as part of a wider effort to prevent the appointment of Blue and White leader Benny Gantz as justice minister.
As part of Gantz’s coalition agreement with Netanyahu last year, the position of justice minister was reserved for members of Gantz’s Blue and White-led bloc. Avi Nissenkorn held the post until elections were called late last year, at which point he resigned to run on a separate party’s slate. Gantz, also defense minister, subsequently took on the post in an interim capacity until his temporary tenure ran out last month.
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Left: Then-US President-elect Joe Biden on January 14, 2021, in Wilmington, Delaware (AP Photo/Matt Slocum); Right: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks in a meeting in Tehran, Iran, December 9, 2020. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
Israeli officials on Sunday night expressed concern that the Biden administration will rush to rejoin the nuclear deal with Iran, arguing that Washington’s negotiating power is compromised by its eagerness to clinch a pact.
“Both sides, the Americans and the Iranians, want a deal. The Iranians smell that the Americans want an agreement at any price,” an official told Channel 12 on condition of anonymity, following a top-level security cabinet meeting on the issue.
University presidents defend free speech in prize dispute
Presidents of Israeli universities released a joint letter on Friday 9 April criticising the government’s decision to withhold the country’s most prestigious prize from a scholar over his political views, saying it “severely harms free speech and free thought”, reports Agencies and
The Times of Israel.
Israel’s top court on Thursday 8 April upheld Education Minister Yoav Gallant’s move to temporarily block Oded Goldreich from receiving this year’s Israel Prize in mathematics and computer science over claims he supports the Palestinian-led international boycott movement targeting Israel, allegations he denies.
With Iran on agenda, security cabinet to convene for first time in 2 months timesofisrael.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from timesofisrael.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.