[Salon] Hundreds of scientists urge CERN to sever ties with Israel



https://thecradle.co/articles/hundreds-of-scientists-urge-cern-to-sever-ties-with-israel

Hundreds of scientists urge CERN to sever ties with Israel

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Mounting academic boycotts and funding suspensions are fueling Israeli brain drain concerns

Israeli academic institutions are bracing for an unprecedented wave of boycotts, with nearly 1,000 scientists calling on the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) to suspend cooperation with Israel, Le Monde reported on 29 September.

The petition argues that Israel’s universities are tightly bound to the army carrying out genocide in Gaza, and urges CERN to follow its precedent of severing ties with Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.

Italian physicist Giacomo Ortona, one of the petition’s initiators, said, “We all are very clear that the Israeli academia is very tightly connected to the Israeli defense forces. And that they are carrying out a genocide in Gaza.” He added that the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling of “plausible grounds” for genocide obliges CERN to act.

At present, more than 100 Israeli scientists are active in the particle accelerator field. Emmanuel Nahshon, a diplomat tasked with supporting universities abroad, warned lawmakers that losing CERN would cause “very severe” damage to Israeli research.

The boycott campaign has expanded rapidly across Europe. Over 30 universities in the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Spain have ended partnerships with Israeli institutions.

Invitations for Israeli researchers to seminars have been canceled, conference presentations postponed, and professional associations have debated expelling Israeli colleagues. 

Previously, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Amsterdam, and institutions in Belgium, Spain, and Brazil all suspended cooperation with Israeli partners, while the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) urged its members to follow suit, saying Israeli universities are complicit in apartheid and genocide.

Israeli historian Ilan Pappe rejected claims that many academics support Palestinians, noting that universities provide courses and degrees for security and police agencies that enforce occupation.

British-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sitta added that personal boycotts are spreading across the UK despite official resistance, compounding Tel Aviv’s fears of a brain drain.

“This is a virus that spreads from one campus to the next, mainly in Europe but also worldwide,” said Daniel Chamovitz, president of Ben-Gurion University and head of the Conference of University Presidents.

A June report by the Samuel Neaman Institute at Technion noted growing refusals to publish Israeli research, rejections from conferences, and mounting difficulties in attracting foreign students. 

While overall output has not yet collapsed, the study found a slowdown compared to other countries.

University leaders have also turned against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In July, the presidents of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa universities signed an open letter condemning insufficient food aid to Gaza, warning of “immense harm to innocent civilians.” 

Economist Itai Ater said, “We are anti-government. We are doing whatever we can to stop the war and to make this government disappear.”

Israeli officials have already felt the pressure building as fears of a brain drain rise, attempting to counter it by offering scholarships of up to $200,000 per year to reattract Jewish academics from abroad. 



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