Israeli academy pleads to stay within Horizon Europe fold

Ejecting Israel from Horizon Europe would be “almost a death sentence for Israeli science,” the president of the country’s Academy of Sciences and Humanities has said, as debate grows in the EU over whether to expel the country, writes David Matthews for Science|Business.

Israel’s blockade of Gaza, starving the civilian population of food, has roused Europe into unprecedented criticism, with the EU announcing last week that it would review the association agreement that underpins Israel’s involvement in the EU’s €93 billion (US$105 billion) research and innovation programme. Even Germany’s new chancellor Friedrich Merz, long a defender of Israel, now says the country’s blockade and continued attacks on Gaza can’t be justified.

With association to Horizon Europe on the line, Israel’s Academy of Sciences and Humanities issued a statement on May 24 pleading with Europe not to cut ties. But MEPs and campaigners calling for an end to association say the EU should use all diplomatic levers to pressure Israel to stop its attacks. “God forbid, we're thrown out of Horizon Europe,” said David Harel, president of the Academy, in an interview with Science|Business. “This is almost a death sentence for Israeli science.”
Full report on the Science|Business site