EU Continues Funding Israeli Institutions Amidst Gaza War, Genocide Accusations

Despite the ongoing war in Gaza, accusations of genocide against Israel, and indictments against Israeli leaders by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the European Union continues to funnel millions of euros into Israeli research and innovation through its Horizon funding program, Al Jazeera reports.

This has prompted criticism from academics and human rights organizations.

Since the start of the October  conflict, the EU has awarded Israeli institutions over €238 million, including €640,000 to Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), a major supplier to the Israeli military. While Horizon guidelines stipulate funding for “exclusively civil applications,” they acknowledge the dual-use nature of many technologies. This allows projects with potential military applications to receive funding as long as their stated objective is civilian.

This continued funding has drawn strong criticism. In July, following the deaths of up to 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, over 2,000 European academics and 45 organizations petitioned the EU to halt all funding to Israeli institutions, citing the Horizon program’s role in advancing Israeli military technology. Their concerns remain unaddressed.

The EU’s support for Israel predates the current conflict. Between 2014 and 2020, the Horizon 2020 program granted Israeli organizations €1.28 billion. Horizon Europe, launched in 2021, has already provided over €747 million. IAI alone received €2.7 million under Horizon Europe and over €10.7 million under Horizon 2020. Elbit Systems, another major Israeli military contractor, received €2.2 million in Horizon 2020 grants.

While all funded projects have stated civilian objectives – such as disaster control and border security – and undergo ethics assessments, there’s no mechanism preventing the subsequent use of the developed technology for military purposes. For example, IAI received funding for a drone mapping project, and Elbit Systems received funding for research on quantum dots, technology applicable to both civilian and military applications.

Several researchers who collaborated with Israeli institutions under Horizon defended the civilian nature of their projects. However, others, like Fabrizio Sebastiani, director of research at the National Council for Research in Italy, expressed concern about the potential military application of their AI-based research, pointing to Israel’s use of AI in Gaza, which has been condemned by UN human rights experts and Human Rights Watch.

The largest portion of EU Horizon funds goes to Israeli academic institutions. Scholar Maya Wind argues that these universities are deeply intertwined with Israel’s military-industrial complex, playing a crucial role in developing and manufacturing weapons used against Palestinians. She and other critics contend that any collaboration with these institutions directly undermines Palestinian liberation.