Israeli Universities Attacking Campus Uprising Uphold Israel's Crimes Against Palestinians
Here’s how they do it, and the reason why Palestinians call for a boycott of complicit Israeli universities.
The heads of nine Israeli universities issued a statement making vile, dangerous and entirely unfounded accusations against the inspiring student mobilizations for divestment from Israeli genocide and apartheid.
These same universities uphold Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.
Here’s how they do it, and the reason why Palestinians call for a boycott of complicit Israeli universities:
Bar Ilan University
Bar Ilan University works closely with the Shin Bet, Israel’s notorious security services, which has been condemned by the UN Committee Against Torture for its use of torture and other illegal violent interrogation tactics. Bar Ilan’s Engineering faculty has run “hackathons” in collaboration with the Israeli military and with Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms producer.
Bar Ilan University established the “College of Judea and Samaria,” now the independent Ariel University, in the illegal Israeli settlement of Ariel in the occupied Palestinian territory in violation of international law. Settlements are considered a war crime in international law.
Ariel University
Ariel University is literally built in an illegal Israeli settlement on stolen Palestinian land in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. Enough said.
Ben Gurion University
Ben Gurion University (BGU) hosts the Homeland Security Institute whose partnerships include Israel’s top weapons companies and the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The Israeli military is building a technology campus next to the BGU campus aimed at furthering the ties between the military and BGU. As a brigadier general at the ribbon cutting ceremony put it, it will “reinforce the army's operational capabilities.” Ben Gurion University has also publicly accused faculty members who signed a statement against Israel's #GazaGenocide of having "tarnished the reputation of BGU."
Weizmann Institute of Science
Weizmann Institute of Science offers an MA program for soldiers and has opened a pre-military academy that will prepare high school seniors for “meaningful military service.” The Weizmann Institute collaborates with Israel's top weapons manufacturers, including Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries.
The Weizmann Institute has introduced more than a dozen benefits for student soldiers serving in Israel's #GazaGenocide.
Hebrew University
Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus is partially built on land illegally expropriated from Palestinian owners in Israeli occupied East Jerusalem, in clear violation of international law, and therefore directly serves the ongoing land theft and dispossession of Palestinians. Hebrew University has additionally offered its campus buildings to Israeli forces for the oppression of the surrounding occupied Palestinian communities. In addition, Hebrew University hosts a military base on campus to offer academic training to Israeli soldiers.
During Israel’s #GazaGenocide, Hebrew University has boasted of providing “diverse logistics equipment to several military units.”
Hebrew University also immediately instituted an “Enhanced Financial Package” for student soldiers committing Israel’s #GazaGenocide, in addition to academic benefits.
Technion
Technion has multiple partnerships with and scholarships sponsored by Israel’s top weapons manufacturers, including Elbit Systems and Rafael. Technion has developed a course on marketing the Israeli weapons industry to the international market for export. Technion also has numerous joint academic programs with the Israeli military and developed the remote control capabilities for the Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer used by the Israeli military to demolish Palestinian homes—considered collective punishment under international law.
Technion boasts of a student who enlisted professors and alumni to create an AI-driven army of bots “to massively increase the impact of pro-Israel efforts on social media,” pushing Israeli propaganda to whitewash its Gaza genocide and repress speech on Palestinian rights.
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University runs joint centers with the Israeli military and Israel’s arms industries. Tel Aviv University also hosts the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), which boasts of having developed the so-called Dahiya Doctrine, or doctrine of disproportionate force. Adopted by the Israeli military, the Dahiya Doctrine calls for “the destruction of the national infrastructure, and intense suffering among the [civilian] population.”
Tel Aviv instituted a hasbara (propaganda) course on Israel's #GazaGenocide and crowdfunded for “care” packages for soldiers committing genocide in Gaza.
Open University of Israel
Open University of Israel has run the “Academic Commandos” program with the Israeli military since 1999, boasting of having given “preferential treatment to IDF soldiers: providing 50% scholarships to active combat soldiers” and being “the only [Israeli] institution of higher education at which soldiers on active duty in the IDF are authorized to study while serving.”
University of Haifa
University of Haifa hosts three Israeli military colleges comprising the Israeli Military Academic Complex, which the university states "form the backbone of the IDF’s elite training programs"
The University of Haifa holds courses at the Israeli military base of Glilot, considered to be an extension of the university. It has provided equipment to soldiers carrying out the genocide in Gaza and established an “emergency” fund to provide stipends to student soldiers.
