This petition, signed by ECCP and European academic organizations, urges the EU to end its complicity in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and in violation of international law. It denounces the continued EU funding of Israeli universities deeply tied to the military and occupation apparatus, while Palestinian universities are being systematically destroyed.
The petition calls on the EU to:
- End all academic and research cooperation with Israeli institutions,
- Revoke Israel’s Horizon Europe status,
- Rebuild Palestinian academic institutions,
- Investigate the human rights impact of past and future EU research funding to Israel,
It urges the EU to impose sanctions, including an arms embargo, and to use its leverage to enforce international law. It is open to researchers, university staff and students for signature by filling the form here.
To:
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
António Costa, President of the European Council
Kaja Kallas, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President,
Ekaterina Zahrieva, Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has raged for over 19 months, has turned Gaza into hell on earth. Since Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2, 2025, and unilaterally resumed its military offensive in violation of the ceasefire agreement, over 2 million people have been facing the worst levels of hunger, starvation and disability amidst relentless bombings. The level of death, destruction and human suffering is apocalyptic. The trickle of aid Israel allowed to enter on May 23 is just a camouflage to avert further international pressure. Ethnic cleansing looms behind the intensified attacks. The Palestinians, already suffering from decades of occupation, colonization and apartheid, are experiencing their darkest hour, as settler violence, forced displacement and home demolitions engulf the West Bank.
A plausible case of genocide has been found by the international Court of Justice (ICJ), and arrest warrants were issued against the prime minister and former defence minister of Israel by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The ICJ further unequivocally ruled in its advisory opinion that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is illegal. The UN General Assembly resolution further determined that the Occupation and all illegal activities should be ended by September 2025.
While Israel blatantly ignores the orders of the ICJ and countless UN resolutions, no action has been undertaken by the EU in line with these moral and legal obligations. On the contrary, the EU continues to grant Israel privileges through the EU-Israel Association Agreement and shields Israel from accountability, despite Article 2 of the agreement stipulating “respect for human rights” as an essential element. Only very recently has a review of the Association Agreement been initiated. In the meantime, weapons made in Europe are still flowing into Israel, killing civilians in Gaza. The past 19 months of your inaction has cost thousands of lives.
While Palestinian universities have been deliberately annihilated by the Israeli military, Israeli academic institutions continue to enjoy a privileged status as partners of European science under the framework of the Association Agreement, receiving over €2.6 billion in EU research funding since 2007. This includes projects in the dual-use and security research area involving Israeli academia and arms companies, some even explicitly mentioning future military applications. Israeli universities, far from being stalwarts of “academic freedom”, have been an integral part of the Israeli settler-colonial project since their inception. They produce scholarship that seeks to normalize and legitimize crimes committed by the State of Israel, they develop technology and strategies that are deployed by the Israeli military against Palestinians, and they undermine academic freedom by repressing critical Jewish and Arab voices in their own institutions.
It is highly probable that the EU funding to the Israeli military-security complex involving academia and industry over the past 18 years has played a role in the maintenance of occupation, colonization and apartheid, given the central role of the security technologies in controlling, subjugating and repressing the occupied population. Continued research funding to Israel is not only morally unacceptable but also exposes the EU to the risk of being complicit in Israeli crimes of genocide, occupation and apartheid. The risk is particularly high given that no adequate monitoring mechanism is in place to prevent misuse of the outcomes of EU-funded research in the implementation phase after projects have formally ended, leading to possible violations of international law.
We therefore demand that the EU:
1. Suspend all ties with Israeli research institutions, and revoke Israel’s status as a Horizon Europe associated country
2. Take the lead in reconstructing Palestinian universities and institutions destroyed by Israel
3. Initiate an investigation into the human rights impact of past and future research funding awarded to Israel
Beyond these specific demands we join the call of millions of people around the globe to end this genocide. We call on you to mobilize all diplomatic, economic and political leverage, including an arms embargo and economic sanctions, to pressure Israel to comply with international law. As Israel’s largest trading partner and a crucial partner for its research and innovation sector, you have real leverage, and according to the rulings of the ICJ you have a responsibility to act. Your failure to do so betrays the core values of the EU, namely respect for human rights and the rule of law, and undermines the EU’s standing in the global community.
The list of signatories and the signature form are available here.