Education Minister Yoav Kish said during the Israel Prize ceremony that 'for the first time in Israel Prize history, five women are among its ten recipients. However, the presence of Mizrahi Jews and those from peripheral regions remains insufficient within academic ranks.' He noted that 'we will not replace one form of exclusion with another, nor impose one opinion over another. The attempt to enforce a single political stance at universities must end. We have already seen the consequences of this approach in the United States.'