{"id":42311,"date":"2018-04-20T07:43:32","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T13:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=42311"},"modified":"2018-04-20T15:28:31","modified_gmt":"2018-04-20T21:28:31","slug":"genesis-prize-cancels-ceremony-after-2018-winner-natalie-portman-said-she-wont-visit-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/genesis-prize-cancels-ceremony-after-2018-winner-natalie-portman-said-she-wont-visit-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"Genesis Prize cancels ceremony after 2018 winner Natalie Portman said she won\u2019t visit Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1482672\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">(JTA) \u2014 The Genesis Prize announced it was canceling its prize ceremony in Israel in June after 2018 recipient Natalie Portman said she would not take part in light of \u201crecent events.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_42313\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/GettyImages-876464874.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42313\" class=\"wp-image-42313 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/GettyImages-876464874-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/GettyImages-876464874-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/GettyImages-876464874-768x506.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/GettyImages-876464874.jpg 880w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/198;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42313\" class=\"wp-image-42313 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/GettyImages-876464874-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/GettyImages-876464874-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/GettyImages-876464874-768x506.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/GettyImages-876464874.jpg 880w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-42313\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Natalie Portman speaking onstage during the Vulture Festival LA at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, Calif., Nov. 19, 2017. (Joe Scarnici\/Getty Images for Vulture Festival)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>On Thursday, the Genesis Prize Foundation, which awards what it calls the \u201cJewish Nobel,\u201d said it was \u201cvery saddened\u201d that the Israeli-American actress would not take part in the ceremony. The foundation said that Portman\u2019s representative notified it that \u201c[r]ecent events in Israel have been extremely distressing to her and she does not feel comfortable participating in any public events in Israel\u201d and that \u201cshe cannot in good conscience move forward with the ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Genesis Prize Foundation canceled the prize ceremony, saying in a statement that its organizers \u201cfear that Ms. Portman\u2019s decision will cause our philanthropic initiative to be politicized, something we have worked hard for the past five years to avoid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Portman did not specify which events caused her distress, although&nbsp;the United Nations and the European Union recently called for investigations into the use of live ammunition by Israel\u2019s military following clashes along the border with Gaza that have left dozens of Palestinians dead and hundreds wounded. Israel celebrated the 70th anniversary of its independence on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>In November, the Genesis Prize&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jta.org\/2017\/11\/07\/news-opinion\/united-states\/actress-natalie-portman-named-winner-of-1-million-jewish-nobel\">announced<\/a>&nbsp;that Portman would receive its 2018 award, which comes with a cash prize that recipients may direct toward causes of their choice. She joins artist Anish Kapoor, violinist Itzhak Perlman, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and actor-director Michael Douglas as winners of the $1 million prize, which \u201chonors individuals who serve as an inspiration to the next generation of Jews through their outstanding professional achievement along with their commitment to Jewish values and the Jewish people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Genesis&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jta.org\/2017\/12\/19\/arts-entertainment\/natalie-portmans-genesis-prize-money-is-doubled-to-2-million\">said<\/a>&nbsp;in December Portman\u2019s prize money had been doubled to $2 million by a donation by Israeli philanthropist Morris Kahn. The foundation did not indicate whether Portman would still receive the prize money in light of her announcement.<\/p>\n<article id=\"post-1495589\" class=\"loop post-1495589 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-arts-entertainment category-news-opinion category-top-headlines category-united-states category-world tags-natalie-portman tags-genesis-prize-foundation\">\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>The Genesis Prize was established by Mikhail Fridman and other wealthy Russian-Jewish businessmen and operates in a partnership with&nbsp;Israel\u2019s Prime Minister\u2019s Office and the Jewish Agency for Israel.<\/p>\n<p>In 2009, Portman&nbsp;joined other Hollywood stars in protesting calls for a boycott against the Toronto International Film Festival for its staging of a Tel Aviv-themed event. She also directed and starred in a Hebrew-language adaptation of Israeli novelist Amos Oz\u2019s memoir, \u201cA Tale of Love and Darkness.\u201d In a statement following the Genesis Prize announcement in November,&nbsp;Portman said she is \u201cproud of my Israeli roots and Jewish heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2015, following the re-election of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, she said she was \u201cvery, very upset and disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI find his racist comments horrific,\u201d she&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/features\/natalie-portman-sounds-israel-netanyahu-793425\">told<\/a>&nbsp;The Hollywood Reporter. \u201cHowever, I don\u2019t \u2014 what I want to make sure is, I don\u2019t want to use my platform [the wrong way]. I feel like there\u2019s some people who become prominent, and then it\u2019s out in the foreign press. You know, shit on Israel. I do not. I don\u2019t want to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Genesis%20Prize%20cancels%20ceremony%20after%202018%20winner%20Natalie%20Portman%20said%20she%20won%E2%80%99t%20visit%20Israel\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[4059,8790,8795,3253,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42314,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42311\/revisions\/42314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}