Boycott Technion Conference in Crete: Universities Implicated in Israel’s #GazaGenocide Must Be Isolated
Palestinians call to boycott the “5th Symposium on Management of Future Motorway and Urban Traffic Systems,” organized by Israel’s Technion, which is deeply complicit in Israel’s gross violations of Palestinian human rights and international law, including Israel’s ongoing Gaza genocide.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) calls to boycott the “5th Symposium on Management of Future Motorway and Urban Traffic Systems,” to be held in Crete, September 4-6, 2024.
While the conference highlights research in the fields of artificial intelligence, vehicle guidance and remote control, it is being organized by Israel’s Technion, which is deeply complicit in Israel’s gross violations of Palestinian human rights and international law, including Israel’s ongoing Gaza genocide. Technion is deeply embedded in Israel’s military and weapons industry.
Technion, for instance, has 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. The D-9 is being used to demolish Palestinian homes in Israel’s Gaza genocide and domicide.
Technion has multiple partnerships with and scholarships sponsored by Israel’s top weapons manufacturers, including Elbit Systems and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Elbit Systems has provided armed drones, bombs designed for "densely populated urban warfare" that contain 26,000 controlled fragments for "high kill probability," and 155mm artillery shells, among other weapons, for Israel’s Gaza genocide. It was an Elbit-made drone that attacked three vehicles of the humanitarian organization World Central Kitchen in Gaza, killing seven aid workers. Rafael has provided Spike Guided Missiles to target, from the air and ground, Palestinians inside buildings in the Gaza Strip, as well as armed drones and shoulder-fired anti-tank missiles being used to destroy buildings from the ground.
Technion supported a student, faculty and alumni project to create an AI-driven army of bots to spread Israeli propaganda whitewashing Israel’s Gaza genocide.
Technion has developed a course on marketing the Israeli weapons industry to the international market for export. It also has numerous joint academic programs with the Israeli military.
We therefore call for a full boycott of this conference. We urge all speakers to withdraw, committee members to resign, and those planning to attend to cancel their participation. A university that is so deeply implicated in Israel’s genocide and its decades-old regime of settler-colonial apartheid against Palestinians must be isolated. Fifteen heads of Palestinian universities have called for isolating all Israeli universities due to their role as a pillar in Israel’s regime of oppression.
Don’t be accomplices to those who enable war crimes and crimes against humanity.
