Sderot-based organization refuses to accept Knesset Speaker's prize

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Members of a Sderot-based non-profit organization refused to accept the Knesset Speaker's Prize for Quality of Life on Tuesday, with its chairman saying "we can not accept a prize for quality of life in a place where lives are not protected." "Gvanim" provides employment opportunities to disabled people from Sderot and the surrounding area. When called to accept the prize during a ceremony at the Knesset, organization activists turned it down, revealing shirts sporting the slogan "We want life in Sderot." Speaker Dalia Itzik responded by saying that "although you refuse to accept the prize, we are glad you came to the Knesset, which is your home too, and that you are conducting your protest in a civil manner."