Israel Matzav

Moonbat donates prize money to 'Palestinian' university

An American professor who received the prestigious Wolf prize from the Israeli government has donated the prize money to Bir Zeit University in Samaria and to Gisha, an organization whose goal is to make it easier for 'Palestinians' to travel carry out terror attacks.

David Mumford of Brown University in the US received the Wolf Prize for mathematics at a ceremony Sunday at the Knesset in recognition of his groundbreaking theoretical work in algebraic geometry.

On Monday, Mumford said he would donate his $33,333 portion of the shared award because he believes freedom of movement is crucial to intellectual development.

The beneficiaries are Bir Zeit University, the West Bank's flagship university, and Gisha, an Israeli organization that works to protect the rights of Palestinian students in the Gaza Strip.

"I feel strongly that mathematics is an international enterprise, and it's really grown up essentially in every country. ... It's really important that everyone have access to higher education, to the international community where mathematics is being carried on," Mumford said.

For several years, Israel - due to security considerations - has banned most Palestinians from leaving the Gaza Strip. This has forced hundreds of Palestinian students to abandon or postpone university studies outside the Strip - even if they have full scholarships to schools in Europe or the US or simply want to travel the 40 kilometers to Palestinian universities in the West Bank.

The contrast between what goes on in Israel and what goes on in the Palestinian areas is "striking," with Israelis able "to travel freely to meetings and graduate students going wherever they please," he said.

"It seems to me in the Palestinian areas, this isn't the case," he said. "I felt very much that it was really carrying out the spirit of Wolf's own wishes to further education in all the areas of Palestine."

The Israel-based foundation was established by Ricardo Wolf, a German-born inventor, diplomat and philanthropist who spent the last years of his life as Cuba's representative in Israel, where he died in 1981.

The foundation presents five or six annual prizes, often shared. Its motto is "to promote science and art for the benefit of mankind." Mumford shared his prize with two other mathematicians.

Ilan Pilo, chief executive of the Wolf Foundation, said the foundation "does not get involved in how prize winners use the money they receive."

Mumford said he did not characterize himself as a political person, but was motivated by his conviction that "higher education, access to mathematical knowledge, is something that should be shared and should be accessible to everyone."

He said he chose Bir Zeit after having visited there four years ago. He heard about Gisha through friends, he said.

At Bir Zeit, Fatah and Hamas compete over whose Bir Zeit students kill more Israeli Jews.

In recent months, Gisha has been involved in suing the Israeli government to try to force it to supply fuel to Gaza for making Kassam rockets, and to try to force it to allow 'sick and wounded' Gazans into Israel for free medical treatment.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:12 PM