More than 150 academics call on EU to stop funding Israeli universities

 European Commission told to 'use its leverage' and ban Israeli universities from receiving funds from an EU programme worth over $100bn

A man wears a hoodie reading "Boycott Israel" at a demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Paris on 22 May 2021 (AFP)

By 

MEE staff

Published date: 27 July 2021 17:54 UTC | Last update: 13 hours 18 mins ago

A group of 160 academics representing 21 countries have urged the European Commission to "use its leverage" and ban Israeli universities from receiving funds from a European Union (EU) programme worth over $100bn.

In a letter sent to the Commission, the group commended the EU's existing "principled position" in its funding guidelines for Horizon 2020 by prohibiting the allocation of funds to Israeli entities situated in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

But the academics called on the body to go further and exclude all Israeli academic institutions, which it charged with "complicity in Israel's regime of military occupation, settler colonialism and apartheid".

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"The complicity of Israeli academic institutions in Israel's structural violence perpetrated against Palestinians across historic Palestine has been broadly and systematically documented," the letter read.

The funding programme - known as Horizon Europe - is the EU's biggest research and innovation programme. It has a budget of around $112bn.

"Given the emerging consensus among some of the most prominent human rights organizations, the crux of the problem goes beyond the Occupied Palestinian Territory," the letter said.

"It would be important to extend the prohibition of European research funds to include Israeli institutions complicit in Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights, regardless of where they are situated."

The letter's signatories were all current or prior recipients of EU research funding and included faculty at institutions including UCL, the University of Edinburgh, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Oxford, the Paris Nanterre University and the University of Westminster.

Calls to boycott

The group of academics join a host of other institutions calling for the academic boycott of Israel. 

In May, 400 New York University (NYU) affiliates signed a letter calling for "non-cooperation" with the NYU Tel Aviv campus.

The letter also comes after the recent decision by ice cream company Ben & Jerry's to stop working in the occupied Palestinian territories, a move that was applauded by Palestinian rights activists as well as demonised by Israeli politicians.

Calls for boycotting Israel over its occupation of Palestinian territories as well as its rights violations against Palestinians have intensified in recent months.

Following Israel's most recent offensive on Gaza, which killed at least 248 Palestinians including more than 60 children, hundreds of employees at Amazon, Google and Apple called on the tech giants to support Palestinian rights and cut ties with Israel's military and intelligence agencies. 

More than 600 musicians also issued a boycott of performances in Israel until it ends its occupation of Palestine.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-academics-demand-european-union-stop-funding-universities-complicit-apartheid