by Joshua Lapide

The prime minister accuses the jury of being too radical and full of "anti-Zionists". Out of 13 members, 11 have resigned. The election campaign underway has "politicised" the award.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews) - Novelist David Grossman on Thursday withdrew his candidacy for this year's Israel Prize in Literature. The Award-winning writer made his decision due to Benjamin Netanyahu's heavy-handed intervention against members of the jury, deemed too "anti-Zionist" in his view.

Along with Grossman, five other candidates withdrew; they are Ruth Dayan, Haim Be'er, Sami Michael, Yigal Schwartz and Yitzhak Ben Ner.

Netanyahu's rough move also drove all the members of the jury in literary research to resign, leaving nobody to choose the prize winner.

The Israel Prize recognises the artistic and scientific contribution of authors in different fields and is considered the highest award in the country. The award ceremony takes place in Jerusalem on Israel's Independence Day.

A few days ago, the Prime Minister's Office criticised the jury for including two "extremists," i.e. leftist judges, namely Avner Holtzman and Ariel Hirschfeld.

On his Facebook page, Netanyahu also wrote that the jury has included "over the years, more and more radical figures, including anti-Zionists," and "Too often, it seemed that the extreme panel members were bestowing the prizes on their friends".

The prime minister's attack prompted the judges to quit. Out of 13 judges in three different categories - literature, literary research and film - only two remain.

"I think that not receiving the Israel Prize is a greater honour than receiving it," said Haim Be'er.

The prize controversy comes a few weeks before Israel's general elections, in which Netanyahu's Likud party is expected to lose.

Prof Nissim Calderon, one of the five members of the jury that quit lamented the "clear politicisation of the prize".

• israel
• netanyahu
• prize
• jury
• david
• grossman
• resignation
• withdrawal