Dozens of Israeli writers and poets signed a petition on Saturday that goes against government plans to transfer the authority of the National Library to the Education Ministry, Hebrew media reported.
The amendment impacting the library is expected to allow the ministry to control appointments to the library board, as well as to increase "transparency and public oversight" of the institution, Maariv reported.
"We strongly oppose any political interference in the selection of the management of the National Library - and demand the continuation of its independent and professional functioning," the letter states. "If the initiative to subjugate the National Library to political parties comes to fruition, we will not entrust our archives to it, we will refuse the libraries to transfer copies of our books to it and we will not give a hand to any of its activities," it adds.
Writers of the petition include David Grossman, Haim Be'er and Eli Amir. Others who signed are Gili Bar-Hillel, known for translating the Harry Potter books to Hebrew, and daughters of Israeli novelist Amos Oz, according to Maariv.
"We strongly oppose any political interference in the selection of the management of the National Library - and demand the continuation of its independent and professional functioning."
The letter
The letter also disapproves the political takeover of the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation, as well as "any legislation that would castrate the justice system and harm the democratic foundations of the State of Israel."
The library
The library emphasized that the change will cause irreversible damage to the library's status, as well as damage to the private donations essential to its continued functioning - which in recent years have amounted to about a billion shekels.
"The demand to change the law unique to the National Library, which has been maintained in the status quo for about two decades, is a real threat to the continued existence of the treasure of the Jewish people for generations," argued the National Library Board of Directors Chairman, Sally Meridor. "The greatest treasure of the National Library is the public's trust in it. Private individuals entrust their works and collections to the benefit of the entire public and for the benefit of future generations.
"In these days of division and image danger for the State of Israel, the intention to damage such an important consensus while severely damaging a national asset of the general public is puzzling."