Sociologist Eva Illouz « canceled » from the Israel Prize for « anti-Israeli ideology »-Liberation

A new sign of the illiberal drift in Israel? The Minister of Education, Yoav Kisch, decided to withdraw the Israel Prize from the Franco-Israeli sociologist on the grounds that she signed a petition in 2021 asking the International Criminal Court (ICC) of The Hague an investigation to determine if Israel had been guilty of wars’ crimes in the West Bank. HAS Releasethe academic says he learned the news only by the media.

Monday, March 24, Yoav Kisch sent a letter to the members of the Commission in charge of the Prize to order them to re -study their selection: « There is absolutely no reason to award the most prestigious price of Israel to someone who, due to a clearly anti-Israeli ideology, has chosen to turn to an institution (the ICC) which does not hesitate to file false complaints against commanders and soldiers of the Israeli army. » He added that he would come back to his position « If Professor Illlouz chooses to apologize publicly, to return to her statements and acts, and to officially announce that she withdraws her signature from the petition addressed to the ICC ».

Created in 1953, the most prestigious Israel Prize in the country, rewards Israeli personalities or organizations in the world of ideas and culture each year during a ceremony in Jerusalem. The historian Zeev sternhellthe novelist Amos Oz Or the Bezalel School of Fine Arts are, for example, among the winners. Director of studies at the EHESS, in Paris, where she returned to live after thirty years spent in Israel, Eva Illouz is interested in her work in relations between capitalism and emotions, but also in democracy.

The intellectual with international renowned and leftist essayist is also known for his positions in his books, translated into several languages, and in the press. She has always been very critical with regard to the policy of Benyamin Netanyahu. This led him to initiale, in 2021, the call to the prosecutor of the ICC, alongside nearly 200 personalities and Israeli scientists.

After Hamas’ terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, she expressed her feeling of « treason » with regard to part of the intellectual and political left close to the postcolonial current, including the philosopher Judith Butler is one of the figures, to which she reproached a « Compassion deficit » Towards the victims of Hamas. She points to« Virtuous anti -Semitism » of certain progressive Western circles which, on the pretext of defending the Gazaoui people, contribute « To the hatred of the Jews ».

In a press release published on Wednesday, the European Center for Sociology and Political Science (CESSP), of which Eva Illouz is a member, brought him « Its full support and solidarity in its firm resistance to pressures of an illiberal government which seeks to put the professors and researchers in step. »