Eyal Waldman accuses: This billionaire stopped me from winning Israel Prize

Eyal Waldman

Businessman, entrepreneur, and Netanyahu critic Eyal Waldman claimed that billionaire Shlomi Fogel, who is very close to Prime Minister Netanyahu, acted to prevent the recommendation for him to receive the Israel Prize during a Knesset committee hearing on Sunday.

During a discussion in the Science Committee of the Knesset chaired by MK Ayman Odeh about the issue, Waldman claimed that Fogel exerted heavy pressure on the members of the committee to recommend another candidate “from the right sector,” but when the members resisted these pressures, the Education Minister Yoav Kish decided to completely cancel the distribution of the prize in the normal fields and instead award the prize based on “civic heroism.”

According to Waldman, his willingness to receive the Israel Prize “did not go down well with Minister Kish and the Prime Minister’s associates, and perhaps the Prime Minister himself” since he heavily opposes Netanyahu and the judicial reform.

Weizmann Institute math and computer science professor Oded Goldreich receive the Israel Prize at a ceremony at the Ministry of Education in Jerusalem, April 11, 2022 (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

Weizmann Institute math and computer science professor Oded Goldreich receive the Israel Prize at a ceremony at the Ministry of Education in Jerusalem, April 11, 2022 (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

Waldman also said in his statements to the committee: “The claim that awards are not given out in time of war is not only a made-up claim, but it is also a ridiculous claim. It is precisely in time of war that the civilian fields, entrepreneurship, science and culture must be strengthened. Families sacrifice what is dearest to them and the best of our children, losing their lives to protect and preserve civil society. A country where culture, science, and entrepreneurship are abolished by hand has ceased to be a democratic country. Precisely in these terrible times, civil society must be strengthened.”

He continued to criticize the decision, citing other instances where prize categories haven’t been changed as a result of war, saying: “Unfortunately, the current government is constantly undermining the foundations of society and democracy. If there was truth in the minister’s claim, then one could expect the cancellation of all Independence Day ceremonies, but this is not happening. On the contrary, I am learning from the media that there is an intention to hold the beacon ceremony in most ceremonies and to bring the best Israeli artists to it. There is also no intention to cancel the national Bible Quiz. What is the difference between these ceremonies and the Israel Prize ceremony? The difference is Eyal Waldman.”

Shlomi Fogel responds to the claims

A response on behalf of Shlomi Fogel was submitted to the press, saying “Eyal Waldman is one of leaders in Hi-Tech in Israel and he definitely deserves to receive the Israel Prize. Fogel has nothing to do with the decision to cancel the award.”

The education minister denied that his decision to suspend the usual Israel Prize categories this year— the first time such a thing has been done in the history of the award, which was first given in 1953— had anything to do with political considerations, saying the decision “stemmed solely from the country’s state of war,” and that he had “decided to exercise a values-based position, choosing to focus this year on honoring the acts of revival, heroism, and mutual responsibility of the citizens of Israel.”

Waldman has been a public figurehead for critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Eyal Waldman, the Israeli tech giant who co-founded Mellanox Technologies, an Israel-based supplier of computer networking technology, was a leader of the hi-tech industry’s opposition to the Netanyahu government’s judicial reform policies in the turbulent months preceding the outbreak of war on October 7.

Then, when thousands of Hamas terrorists attacked Israel’s south, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and raping and kidnapping others, Waldman’s daughter Danielle and her partner Noam were among those murdered at the Nova music festival in Re’im.

The tech giant held Netanyahu partially responsible for the failures of the day, telling an interviewer from the German outlet DW that “there is a responsibility on the government, on the prime minister, they should definitely resign, shamefully.”

Waldman also told the British outlet BBC in an interview in December that despite what happened on October 7, he still believes in the possibility of a two-state solution.

Leon Kraimen contributed to this report.