The Cornell organization Students for Justice in Palestine, a group supporting Palestinian activism, is currently voicing their concerns regarding potential ties between the Israeli government and Technion – the Israel Institute of Technology that recently paired up with Cornell University in their successful bid to construct an Applied Science graduate school in New York, New York.
The group has released a petition calling upon the University to end its relationship with Technion on grounds of that University’s involvement in research and development of military and arms technology for the Israeli government. They claim that some of the Institution’s involvements with the Israeli government have had an effect on the country’s “war crimes” in the ongoing conflict with Palestinians in the region. The petition will be sent to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, President David Skorton, Vice President Susan Murphy, and Provost Kent Fuchs.
Here’s an excerpt from their petition:
“More than any other university in Israel, the Technion, which is involved in the research and development of military and arms technology, is directly implicated in war crimes. Its joint programs with the Israeli military and its cooperative research programs with two of Israel’s major weapons corporations, Elbit and Rafael, renders Technion a full participant in the actions carried out by the Israeli military. Those actions include targeting civilians, as in the 2006 invasion of Lebanon and the 2008-2009 Cast Lead operation against Gaza, and physically contributing to Israel’s discriminatory practices in the West Bank with the construction of the separation wall that cuts sharply into the occupied West Bank and disrupts the lives of Palestinians in countless ways. The Cornell administration cannot plead ignorance of these facts. We refuse to collaborate with this.”
Founded in 1912, Technion is the oldest University in modern Israel. It boasts to have three Nobel Prize winners among its world-renowned researchers. With Mayor Bloomberg’s recent game-changing announcement, however, little attention has been paid to the history and specifics of Technion as an institution and as a leader in Israeli education.
As it turns out, Students for Justice in Palestine is not the only group to question the ethics of the Institution. Just last week, students at the London School of Economics began questioning the school’s recent pairing with Technion for an EU initiative called “Policy Incentives for the Creation of Knowledge: Methods and Evidence (PICK-ME).” Here’s an excerpt from The Beaver, the newspaper of the LSE Students’ Union:
“Similarly, the Institute for Technology has been heavily involved in developing tunnel detecting equipment for the Israeli government. In her article published in the Beaver last week, Clifton suggests that Technion has been both “directly and indirectly” involved in the creation of military surveillance and security equipment in conjunction with Elbit Systems, an Israeli company known for providing the monitoring systems for the 760km separation wall. Auer further emphasised this point in the general meeting on Thursday, saying there has been a “close relationship” between Technion and Elbit since a research agreement was signed in 2008.”
And from the UK’s The Independent:
“These numerous ties, say Israel’s critics, make Technion complicit in the crimes associated with Israel’s ongoing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The Israeli military breaches international law daily, as it enforces an apartheid regime in the occupied territories that goes strictly against the Geneva Conventions.”
These initiatives mark the first criticisms of Technion since Mayor Bloomberg’s announcement last December. If nothing else, they are an indication that not everyone in the Cornell community is a supporter of the Cornell-Technion relationship. The implications of Technion’s influence in the Israeli government remain ambiguous. Regardless, any negative PR regarding the Institution’s ethics will be bad press for Cornell at this decisive moment in school history.
Expect more news and analysis regarding Technion’s role in Middle Eastern politics here at the Cornell Insider in the coming days.
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