fbpx

The Genesis Prize Foundation Cuts Ties with Israeli Prime Minister

[additional-authors]
January 27, 2020

The Prestigious Jewish award The Genesis Prize announced Jan. 27 that they will no longer partner with the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel (PMO).

Established in 2013, The Genesis Prize started as a private-public partnership between The Genesis Prize Foundation (GPF), the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel (PMO), and The Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI). The private GPF finances the Prize through a $100 million endowment.

The three organizations said in a joint statement that this decision comes in an attempt to keep the award nonpolitical. Separately, GPF announced a modification of the laureate nomination process designed to widen the participation of the global Jewish community.

“Since awarding the inaugural Genesis Prize to Michael Bloomberg in 2014, the partnership among our three organizations has resulted in the creation of one of the most prestigious awards in the Jewish world. Genesis works to bring Israel and global Jewry closer together, while the recipients of the Prize have contributed tens of millions of dollars to important philanthropic causes in Israel and in the Diaspora. During this time, we have also seen that, despite the efforts of the partners to create a nonpolitical award that unites the Jewish people, some have incorrectly interpreted the participation of the Office of the Prime Minister in the Genesis Prize as bringing a political dimension to this important initiative. This is the opposite of what the founders of the Prize intended. Therefore, in order to make it perfectly clear that this award transcends politics, the three partners collectively have decided that the PMO would exercise the option contained in the founding documents and withdraw from the partnership. GPF will continue to administer the Prize in cooperation with JAFI.”

The statement continues: “Prime Minister Netanyahu thanks Michael Fridman, Stan Polovets and the other co-founders of The Genesis Prize Foundation for conceiving and launching this important project. The Prime Minister remains a strong supporter of the Prize and will continue to follow its progress and GPF’s philanthropic impact with great interest.”

Stan Polovets, Co-founder and Chairman of GPF, added: “On behalf of the founders of the Prize, I express our sincere gratitude to Prime Minister Netanyahu for his invaluable support of the Genesis Prize since inception. Together, we created a Prize for all Jewish people, a non-political award that celebrates world-renowned Jewish achievement and the miracle of Israel. None of this would have been possible without the strong support from Prime Minister Netanyahu as well as his insistence that the Prize be administered independently and the selection process adhere to the highest standards of transparency and integrity.”

“We at The Jewish Agency thank the Prime Minister’s Office for the many years of partnership,” Chairman of JAFI Isaac Herzog said in a statement. “We look forward to the next chapter in the development of the Genesis Prize, and believe expanding the nomination process will further enhance the impact of this important initiative. We would like to see Jews throughout the world participate, making their voices heard about the laureates and the future philanthropic agenda of the Jewish people.”

Genesis Prize Laureates to date have included former New York City Mayor and current US presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg; actor Michael Douglas; violinist Itzhak Perlman; sculptor Anish Kapoor; actress Natalie Portman; owner of the New England Patriots Robert Kraft; and Natan Sharansky. In 2018 it awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

Difficult Choices

Jews have always believed in the importance of higher education. Today, with the rise in antisemitism across many college campuses, Jewish high school seniors are facing difficult choices.

All Aboard the Lifeboat

These are excruciating times for Israel, and for the Jewish people.  It is so tempting to succumb to despair. That is why we must keep our eyes open and revel in any blessing we can find.  

More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.