TU Eindhoven has become the latest university to freeze all collaborations with institutions in Israel due to the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza. The university is also freezing collaborations with the Israeli university Technion, which has “indisputable strong ties” with the country’s defense sector.
The TU/e board announced the measures on Monday in the university council. The technological university follows the University of Amsterdam, Radboud University in Nijmegen, Tilburg University, and Erasmus University Rotterdam in this move. These institutions also took measures to at least limit collaborations with Israel. “We feel that unrestrained cooperation with Israeli partners, especially those with strong ties to the Israeli defense sector, leads to moral complicity,” a statement on the university’s website read.
TU/e is also setting up a special committee to assess “sensitive collaborations” next month. In the meantime, there will be no new “institutional” collaboration with Israeli partners. Individual scientists will still have certain freedoms regarding this, but they have to be “extra careful.”
According to the TU/e board, taking these steps has “become unavoidable.” Chairman Koen Janssen said in the statement that he and his fellow board members are watching the developments in Gaza with “great sadness.”
They view the violence of Israelis against Palestinians as “continuing and aggravating human rights violations.”
Collaborations with Technion usually take place in a European context. TU/e’s research is “always aimed at making the world better.” The projects in which there is cooperation are not military in nature, but the board recognizes that some civil projects may eventually be used for military purposes. This is called the “dual use” of technology.
SJN
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