The prize was founded in 2012 with a $100 million endowment from five Russian businessmen: Mikhail Fridman, Pyotr Aven, German Khan, Stan Polovets, and Alexander Knaster.

[10] Members of the committee that selects Genesis Prize laureates are chosen based on their leadership and support for Jewish causes.

[11][12][13] Current and former committee members include Elie Wiesel, Meir Shamgar, Lawrence Summers, Yuli Edelstein, Jonathan Sacks, Isaac Herzog, and Nathan Sharansky.

But according to a committee source, when the Prime Minister's Office learned that a critic of Trump would be publicly given an award by Netanyahu, it was transferred to Portman.

Portman later claimed that she was not boycotting Israel, but that she didn't want to "appear as endorsing" prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was set to give a speech at the ceremony.