Israel Prize for heroism to go to 2 civilians who rescued dozens at Kibbutz Be’eri

Houses destroyed during Hamas's brutal October 7 onslaught in Kibbutz Be'eri, seen on December 20, 2023. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Houses destroyed during Hamas's brutal October 7 onslaught in Kibbutz Be'eri, seen on December 20, 2023. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)

The Israel Prize for civilian heroism will be awarded to Menachem Kalmanson and Itiel Zohar for their bravery in fighting at Kibbutz Be’eri, Education Minister Yoav Kisch announces.

On October 7, Kalmanson and his brother Elhanan Kalmanson left their homes in the West Bank settlement Otniel and traveled to Kibbutz Be’eri, along with Zohar, their nephew.

“Despite being told that they were not needed, they arrived at Kibbutz Be’eri and repeatedly entered the besieged kibbutz over the course of a number of hours, and in doing so, saved dozens of the residents of the kibbutz,” Kisch says in a statement.

In the last house they entered, in the early hours of October 8, a terrorist shot and killed Elhanan. The three have become known as “Team Elhanan.”

The Israel Prize this year is mired in controversy.

In the middle of February, the government announced that the categories for the Israel Prize, the country’s highest civilian honor, would be canceled for 2024, and two new categories related to the ongoing war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza would be awarded instead — “Societal Responsibility” for civil efforts and volunteering, and “Citizen Heroism” for civilian acts of bravery.

The prize will be awarded to six individuals whose actions “inspired unity and kindness, demonstrated extraordinary bravery, inspired enormous hope in Israel and contributed to the recovery after the terrible upheaval we experienced on October 7,” the statement said at the time.

But a report by the Maariv news outlet at the end of February alleged that Kisch had done so to avoid bestowing the Entrepreneurship Award on the leading candidate, tech entrepreneur Eyal Waldman, a prominent critic of the government’s judicial overhaul agenda.

Waldman himself, whose daughter Danielle was murdered by Hamas terrorists in the Supernova massacre of October 7, alleged during a Knesset Science Committee hearing earlier this month that Kisch and close associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pressured the relevant Israel Prize selection committee to change its decision to award him the honor.

Last Thursday, the High Court of Justice gave Kisch and the government one week to respond to petitions demanding the reversal of the decision to drastically pare down the Israel Prize for 2024.

Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.

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