Minister of Education Yoav Kisch is refusing to award the Israel Prize for Sociology to Prof. Eva Illouz who in the past sent an appeal to the International Criminal Court asking that it act against Israel, Channel 12 reported.

Kisch said that if she apologized for the appeal, he would agree to award her the prize.

The Minister explained that Prof. Eva Illouz, who was recommended by the prize committee to receive the Israel Prize for the Study of Sociology, signed an appeal to the Criminal Court in The Hague against Israel, "a court that persecutes IDF soldiers, our heroic warriors, all over the world and claims that they commit war crimes."

"Signing an appeal to The Hague is not criticism, it is a deep denial of our very right to exist and harms the State of Israel's legitimacy. Irrelevant to her academic accomplishments, I am not ready to present the Israel Prize to someone who appealed to the court in The Hague against the State of Israel - that is what I told the prize committee that recommended her," he added.

Kisch also noted: "If Prof. Illouz chooses to publicly apologize and retract her appeal, I will reconsider my position."