(JTA) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reversed his decision to remove two judges from a panel that awards the prestigious Israel Prize. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein on Feb. 12 advised Netanyahu to return Ariel Hirschfeld and Avner Holtzman to the judge’s panel.

The Israel Prize is the country’s most prestigious award for individuals or groups who excelled in their contribution to science, society, the arts or the Jewish state.

Netanyahu’s office did not explain the decision to remove Hirschfeld, a literature professor who in the past supported conscientious objection to serving in the Israeli army, and Holtzman, a literary scholar who is not known for espousing controversial political views. Netanyahu did, however, complain on Facebook of elitism and a lack of diversity among the panel’s judges.

The intended dismissal triggered widespread criticism against perceived politicization of the Israel Prize and caused the resignation of eight out of 13 panel judges and protests by candidates for this year’s prize, including the internationally acclaimed novelist David Grossman.

In a statement last Friday, Shlomit Barnea Farago, the head of the legal department of the Prime Minister’s Office, said Netanyahu will honor the attorney general’s request to refrain from appointments in the period leading up to the election. She added that if reelected, Netanyahu would lay down new criteria for appointing Israel Prize judges.