Questions about Israel and the European Union’s Horizon Europe program
The European Union’s Horizon Europe program serves as a lifeline for Israeli academia, which remains complicit and silent about the ongoing genocide in #Gaza. Shouldn't Israeli participation in EU programs face greater scrutiny based on legal and ethical obligations?
Separating Israeli research from government policies is like claiming Israel's #Eurovision participation doesn't benefit the state. Israeli media acknowledges that losing Horizon Europe access could trigger isolation and academic decline similar to Russia's post-sanctions deterioration. These grants provide more than funding—they offer prestige, international collaborations, and access to cutting-edge infrastructure. The Council for Higher Education warns of "devastating" consequences including research deterioration and accelerated brain drain, while university leaders emphasize threats to Israel's academic status. Simultaneously, cuts to US government science funding create what Israeli sources call a "double-sided attack" on their research capabilities.
Concerns raised in the Q&A:
Even civilian research projects can free up Israeli government resources for military operations and settlement expansion, while continued EU cooperation legitimizes these policies and weakens international pressure for change. Further more, monitoring mechanisms cannot prevent misuse or ensure that research and technology aren't ultimately used for military purposes, creating moral inconsistency in condemning Israel's actions while providing funding that indirectly supports the state.
The ongoing genocide in Gaza, with its massive civilian casualties and humanitarian crisis, only intensifies these concerns and shows that maintaining the status quo in fact fails to hold Israel accountable, while sending the wrong message about the EU's commitment to human rights and international law. While a full revocation of the association agreement is considered highly improbable due to the need for unanimous consent, a suspension or exclusion from Horizon Europe specifically is a real possibility requiring a qualified majority vote, and the likelihood of this happening depends on the evolving political situation.
Infographic about Horizon Europe funding and Israeli academia
Israel in Horizon Europe (18 years of different programs):
- 225 total research grants received
- 121 grants to young researchers
- 58 grants to advanced researchers
- 46 grants to senior researchers
Israeli Proposals to Horizon Europe:
- 1.3 billion NIS total funding requested
- 650 million NIS approved funding
- 650 other proposals
Israeli Performance by Research Field (percentage of grants received):
- Medical/Health: 20%
- Life Sciences: 17%
- Exact Sciences: 17%
- Engineering: 16%
- Social Sciences: 15%
- Humanities and Arts: 8%
Key Statistics:
- Supporting one researcher for 27 months in the European Union requires what it costs to support a researcher in Israel
- 55% more funding available for researchers, with 65% going to university researchers in the European Union compared to Israel
[Follow up] "Shin Bet and university, university and Shin Bet. What does that remind me of?" ...
Prof. Idan Landau discusses how Israeli academics' collaboration with the state compromises academic freedom and values by facilitating state surveillance and oppression, particularly of Palestinians. This collaboration also normalizes practices reminiscent of dictatorial regimes (e.g., the #Stasi) and makes universities such as Tel Aviv and Bar Ilan complicit in human rights abuses.
From Prof. Landau's 2021 post:
[...] Did you know that secret research is conducted in Israeli universities, under the auspices and for the benefit of the Shin Bet, the results of which are kept at the Shin Bet headquarters and are not open to public review? Again, more slowly: there are people who use the university's research resources for years, receive a doctorate from it with all the tangible and symbolic capital that goes with it, without leaving any documented trace behind, because all their work is absolutely secret? Read, for example, about the mysterious doctorate written by former Shin Bet member, Dr. Nachman Tal, at the University of Haifa, on "Changes in Security Policy towards the Arab Minority 1948-1967," in the Department of the History of the Jewish People at the University of Haifa. How much of the process was a standard academic process? Well: "The Shin Bet set several preconditions. The work will be defined as 'classified.' That is, it will not be published for public review... Towards the date of the examination of the work, the university submitted to the Shin Bet a list of candidates for the position of judges. The Shin Bet disqualified some of them, and others, who were found to have the appropriate security clearance, were approved."
Here are several examples of collaboration between Israeli academia and security services:
Joint Programs and Investments:
The Shin Bet and Tel Aviv University collaborate to identify start-ups, with TAU Ventures investing $50,000 in each of the six selected start-ups for "acceleration" within a program called The #Xcelerator: Tel Aviv University helps the Shin Bet develop more sophisticated espionage and surveillance technologies"
University-Security Career Fairs:
Universities allow Shin Bet representatives to attend career fairs as if they were recruitment companies: "All the universities open their gates to Shin Bet representatives who come to 'career meetings' as if they were placement companies in its service."
Transfer of Graduate Information:
Universities provide the Shin Bet with lists of graduates, including names, ID numbers, and contact information: "The universities transfer to the Shin Bet lists with the names of graduates, ID numbers and ways to contact them."
Prof. Landau in fact questions how this aligns with privacy laws, noting the Shin Bet interprets the law to allow them to "receive information for the purpose of fulfilling its role," which they extend to include recruitment: "The law exempts the Shin Bet... and allows the Shin Bet to 'receive information for the purpose of fulfilling its role,' and the Shin Bet interprets this also as information that will help them recruit manpower."
Secret Research: see opening quote
Monitoring of Arab Students:
University security departments monitor Arab activists, both on campus and on social networks, with the approval of the administration: "It is well known that in all the campuses the security departments conduct ongoing monitoring of Arab activists, on the ground and also on social networks, and things come to threats and harassment, all with the approval and with the blind eye of the administration."
Tel Aviv University asking help from the faculty to identify students during the 2011 protests:
"Tel Aviv University then sent a letter to the lecturers in which it asked for their help in identifying and handing over students from their departments (what Stas!i), who participate in protest activities on campus; a video documenting a student demonstration was attached to the letter, in order to make it easier for the lecturers to do the work of informing."
Idan Landau was born in the US, immigrated to Israel in 1969, and served as an IDF officer (1985-1989). He earned degrees from Tel Aviv University and MIT, specializing in generative syntax. A professor of Linguistics at Tel Aviv University since 2023, he has been imprisoned multiple times for refusing to serve in the occupied territories, causing a media controversy in 2011 when his salary was docked for this reason.
Jake #Yeston, an editor at #Science magazine, made the point that a broader base of personal histories can improve the process of deciding what scientific issues to work on:
The EU’s Horizon Programme has pumped billions of euros into Israel’s military-industrial complex, including millions since Israel was accused of genocide. It is high time to exclude Israel from EU Horizon: https://www.donotpanic.news/p/eu-science-grants-are-funding-israeli