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JERUSALEM — Israel's High Court of Justice has overturned the awarding of the Israel Prize for Journalism to columnist Shmuel Schnitzer of the daily newspaper Ma'ariv.

The court Thursday of last week ordered Education Minister Zevulun Hammer to resubmit the issue to the prize committee.

The ruling came followed a petition by Labor Knesset member Adisu Massala, who requested that Schnitzer, a longtime correspondent and editor, be disqualified from receiving Israel's highest award because of an allegedly racist article he wrote in August 1994.

In the article, headlined "Import of blood," Schnitzer said Ethiopian Jewish immigrants were "contaminated with diseases," particularly AIDS. Schnitzer also referred to the Ethiopian immigrants as "blacks," which earned him a censure from the Journalists' Council.

Massala, who also heads the Unified Ethiopian Immigrants' Organization, said in his petition to the court that Schnitzer's article was tantamount to incitement to racism.

He requested that Hammer, who is ministerially in charge of the prize, withdraw it from Schnitzer or request a new decision from the prize committee, which was not aware of the article and the subsequent censure.

Following the petition to the High Court, President Ezer Weizman appealed to Schnitzer to apologize or to forgo the prize. Weizman said he would not award it to him at the awards ceremony on Independence Day.

The court two weeks ago proposed that Hammer return the matter to the prize committee and appraise them that Schnitzer had been censured for racist remarks.

But Hammer said that, while he decried the contents of the article, such a reversal could create a "dangerous precedent." He also said Schnitzer, who should apologize, should not be singled out for one article over a 50-year career. Schnitzer has refused to apologize.