KNAW wants to exclude Israel from European research programme

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) is a society of leading scientists which calls itself ‘the forum, voice and conscience’ of Dutch academia. A statement about Israel and Gaza was posted on KNAW's website by its seven-member board on Thursday. 

The board members point not only to the tens of thousands of civilian deaths, the famine and the blockades of humanitarian aid, but also the systematic destruction of hospitals, universities and schools in Gaza. According to the KNAW, this constitutes 'scholasticide'.

Researchers from the KNAW institute NIOD (for war, Holocaust and genocide studies) argue that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. An international association of genocide researchers shares the same position.

The KNAW statement reads: 'Now that the scientific consensus on the genocidal nature of Israel's violence is growing, the KNAW board calls on the Minister of Education, Culture and Science to actively work towards suspending Israel's participation in the European Horizon programme for scientific cooperation.'

Horizon
The European Commission has proposed suspending cooperation between Israel and the European Innovation Council (EIC). This innovation council is part of the Horizon Europe research programme. Israel would therefore remain welcome in other parts of the programme, such as the European Research Council (ERC).

The Dutch cabinet supports this proposal, as the new outgoing Minister of Foreign Affairs, David van Weel, reported to the House of Representatives on Tuesday. However, according to him, there is not yet a majority among the member states. ‘There is currently insufficient support to proceed with suspension.’

Autonomy
In the Netherlands, Gouke Moes, the new outgoing Minister of Education, Culture and Science, would rather not interfere with universities' cooperation with Israeli institutions, as became clear yesterday during a debate on academic freedom.

Like his predecessors, Moes wants to leave the assessment of such cooperation to educational institutions themselves. Moes doesn't want to stifle protests against such cooperation, either.

Moes is the successor to NSC Minister Eppo Bruins, who resigned on August 22, following in the footsteps of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Caspar Veldkamp, also from NSC. Veldkamp stepped down after receiving too little support for additional measures against Israel.

Utrecht University
UU is part of scientific consortia funded by the European Union. The university hopes that the European Union will suspend Israel's participation in EU-funded research, which would make cooperation with Israel in research consortia impossible. Withdrawing from these consortia would cause major legal problems, according to UU.