Mifal Hapayis, Israel’s official state lottery, has announced that it is awarding this year’s Landau Prize for Arts and Sciences in the poetry category to Yitzhak Laor, a radical leftist poet.

In a poem called “Anthem to the ‘Gush,’” Laor once infamously wrote of the “knitted kippah” religious Zionists:

And our holiday of freedom, this holiday of matzos, we celebrate with conviction in sanctity and with addictive body movements, and in our matzos is the blood of Palestinian youths, because these are all libels by idolaters anyway.

Attorney Yossi Fuchs, Chairman of the Legal Forum for Israel, has sent a letter of protest to Major General (res.) Uzi Dayan, Mifal Hapayis Chairman, after hearing that Laor was the recipient of the prize.

Fuchs accused the judges of ignoring the fact that Laor is a radical leftist, and added that he is a member of anti-Israeli organizations, and an IDF service refuser.

“Is it feasible,” he asked, “that Mifal Hapayis, which was established to advance Israel’s society and community, will give the Landau prize to a man who sees Israel as ‘the last bastion of colonialism in the world’?”

It is notable that in February a prize received by  veteran Israeli singer and composer Ariel Zilber received from ACUM (Union of Composers, Writers and Publishers in Israeli Music) for his contribution to Israeli music, was downgraded under leftist pressure due to his right-wing political views.

Zilber was originally supposed to have received a lifetime achievement award, but ACUM changed its mind at the last moment and chose to change the award under pressure from Dalia Rabin, daughter of murdered Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin who is a member of ACUM’s board of directors, and who is opposed to Zilber because of his right-wing political stance.

The saga surrounding Zilber’s award started when leftist singer Achinoam Nini announced she would not accept a prize from ACUM so long as Zilber was being honored as well.

As he got up on stage to accept his prize, Zilber said that ACUM should be shut down and a new union be established that respects anyone, regardless of their political opinion.