Professor's saga highlights nationalists' reach in Israel

An Israeli computer science professor was awarded Israel's highest honor a year ago

JERUSALEM -- Oded Goldreich was awarded the Israel Prize, the country's highest honor, a year ago. But the computer science professor only collected the prize this past week after overcoming a repeated public assault by Israeli nationalists over his opposition to Israel's occupation of the West Bank.

The year-long saga has shined a light on attempts by nationalist forces in Israel to impose their narrative on mainstream Israeli life and to stifle opposing views.

That narrative, which sees the West Bank and its Jewish settlements as part of Israel and largely ignores the occupation, has become increasingly entrenched in Israel, endangering prospects for Palestinian independence. Anti-occupation actors meanwhile are often painted as enemies of the state and have been targeted with legislation that hobbles their activities.

“It’s Made-in-Israel McCarthyism,” said Avner Gvaryahu, a co-director of Breaking the Silence, a whistleblower group for Israeli soldiers. “There is a large number of organizations, journalists and politicians whose main project in recent years is stifling dissent.”