Natalie Portman Criticized By Israeli Government For Pulling Out Of Awards Ceremony

Natalie Portman Criticized By Israeli Government For Pulling Out Of Awards Ceremony

Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev has denounced Natalie Portman’s decision not to come to Israel to receive an award by the Genesis Prize Foundation.

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Regev said Portman had “fallen into the hands” of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign that aims to isolate the Jewish state. “Portman, a Jewish actress born in Israel, joins those who tell the successful, wondrous founding of the State of Israel as ‘a tale of darkness and darkness’,” he said. Regev’s reference was to the Oscar-winner’s 2015 directorial feature debut A Tale of Love and Darkness, an adaptation of the autobiographical novel by Israeli author Amos Oz, shot in Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem-born Portman said she would not take part in light of “recent events” in Israel that she found distressing. She was not specific, but the United Nations and the European Union recently called for investigations into the use of live ammunition by Israel’s military in clashes along the border with Gaza that have left dozens of Palestinians dead and hundreds wounded.

The move also drew swift condemnation from Israel’s governing Likud party. Knesset member Oren Hazan demanded authorities revoke Portman’s Israeli citizenship.

Portman had initially agreed to accept the $2 million award, known as the Jewish Nobel, at a ceremony scheduled for June.

The Genesis Prize foundation has canceled the prize ceremony saying in a statement that it fears “Portman’s decision will cause our philanthropic initiative to be politicized, something we have worked hard for the past five years to avoid.”