Natalie Portman Pulls Out of Israel-Based Honor

Natalie Portman has pulled out of an awards ceremony in Israel, apparently due to "extremely distressing" recent events in Israel. The actress--who was born in Jerusalem and made her directorial debut, A Tale of Love and Darkness, in Israel-- was told in November that she was to be honored by the Genesis Prize Foundation with the fifth annual Genesis Prize Laureate. When she informed the foundation she would no longer be accepting the award, the ceremony was canceled.

The foundation delivered the news on their Web site.

“The Genesis Prize Foundation (G.P.F.) was notified by a representative of Ms. Portman that ‘recent events in Israel have been extremely distressing to her and she does not feel comfortable participating in any public events in Israel’ and that ‘she cannot in good conscience move forward with the ceremony.’”

In addition, the foundation sent its “apologies to everyone who has been affected by this decision, particularly to the hundreds of international guests who made plans to fly to Jerusalem to honor Ms. Portman” and celebrate the event.

Portman has been frank about her feelings on Israeli politics, telling The Hollywood Reporter that she did not approve of current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose remarks have proved controversial in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “I’m very much against Netanyahu,” she said. “Against. I am very, very upset and disappointed that he was re-elected.” Portman, who moved from Israel to New York City when she was three, has spoken often about Judaism and her own beliefs, as in an interview with The Independent in 2015:

“I think a really big question the Jewish community needs to ask itself, is how much at the forefront we put Holocaust education,” she said then. “Which is, of course, an important question to remember and to respect, but not over other things. We need to be reminded that hatred exists at all times and reminds us to be empathetic to other people that have experienced hatred also. Not used as a paranoid way of thinking that we are victims.”

Past Genesis Prize laureates, an award referred to by the foundation as “the Jewish Nobel Prize,” include __Itzhak Perlman__and former New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

Natalie Portman’s Awards-Season Style