@oatmeal
While you raise a good point here, the science community do seem to rise above the immaturity and unprofessional attitude we get in politics, take for example Russia everyone is still collaborating on the ISS and in other science fields, despite the war in Ukraine.
Maybe the science commmunty are not trying to ignore what is going on, they want to build bridges, perhaps they don't want to speak out against Netenyahu due to fear of repercussions on them or their insitution, look at what Trump is doing to Harvard, over apparent failing to tackle antisemitism.
If Science can help build bridges that is a good thing. I caught something on the BBC news that the Israel media are not covering what is going on in Gaza in the same way the BBC are, so perhaps if members of the Science community can visit other countries, they will watch the news and get a different perspective on world affairs.
But yes, losing access to funding could put pressure on Netenyahu, but I don't think he cares,, he wants to destroy hamas regardless of cost and actually likes the idea of relocating the population and allowing trump to build on the territory.
If you remove funding you will enrage Netenyahu and Trump and probably end up with higher tariffs and Trumps govermment funding the science. The EU could end up far worse off.
@zleap you raise important questions but I’m not sure what you mean by building bridges. Israel, in a way, is the golem Europe created and now is in full control, destroying everything in its wake and it’s not limited to Palestinian resistance.
Apropos investment in Israel’s economy, science and military, in the 1960s #Germany used #Holocaust guilt to justify funding Israel's nuclear program while demanding the #Eichmann trial not implicate ordinary Germans in genocide. Today's Europe uses "shared values" rhetoric to justify continued research cooperation.
Ben-Gurion insisted on "Nazi Germany" versus "Germany" to protect German sensibilities and secure nuclear funding. Today's discussions about Horizon Europe carefully avoid confronting Europe's role in enabling Israeli capabilities used against Palestinians. The program has provided Israeli institutions with billions in research funding, much of which has enhanced dual-use technologies, surveillance systems, and military applications now deployed in Gaza and the West Bank.
IMHO Suspending Horizon Europe participation wouldn't just be about current Israeli actions - it would force Europe to confront how its historical and ongoing support has made those actions possible. The current framing avoids this uncomfortable truth about European complicity.
See Ora Herman's "The Furnace and the Reactor: Behind the Scenes at the Eichmann Trial"
Maybe the solution is to encourage brain drain. Support Israeli scientists who will come and work in Europe, make them sign a cooling-off period preventing them from working with any industry complicit, supporting or enabling the occupation in any way. The world will benefit from continued investment in research, and #Israel will be left to deal with the consequences of adopting messianic #Zionism.
Regardless, polling shows that most Israelis support the continued occupation, and now more than ever, they also support population transfer - I believe the figure is around 86% of the Jewish population. There's little reason to assume that scientists and academics are somehow exempt from these broader societal attitudes.
Yes you have a good point here, and the observer article suggests the situation is far more self made by Netenyahu / Israel than people understand or will accept.
By building bridges I was thinking more in the context of what I said about different countries, who still work together regardless of the political situation, for example space programmes.
In some ways perhaps my thinking is too simplistic and there has to be apoint where we say NO to people due to their governments actions.
As I said if we do that we risk the wrath of Netenyahu and Trump who has alrady said he is imposing 50% Tariffs on the EU, if we stopped scientists from Israel attending conferences or being part of research we risk higher tariffs or worse repurcussions,
So it goes back to being too terrified to stand up to bullies. At some point we are going to have to do that.
