Discontinuing ongoing collaborations Israeli partners: important stepstaken

(08-11-2024) At the end of May, Ghent University decided to discontinue ongoing institutional collaborations with certain Israeli governmental and academic institutions. Read here what concrete steps Ghent University has already taken and which still await us.

What preceded

In 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled several times that Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip could amount to genocide. The Commission on Human Rights Policy and Dual Use Research (CMDUO) found that there is a high degree of interdependence between a lot of the Israeli academic institutions with whom there is collaboration and the Israeli government, army and/or security services.

Therefore, on 31 May 2024, Ghent University decided to discontinue ongoing institutional collaborations with certain Israeli governmental and academic institutions. These include 12 research consortia within Horizon Europe, the EU's research and innovation programme, and 1 Erasmus+ educational collaboration.

"The necessary steps will be taken within the consortia to explore whether cooperation with the Israeli partners involved can be discontinued. If this is not the case, Ghent University should take the necessary steps to withdraw from the projects itself. Obviously, this will be done with the utmost care for the researchers and promoters involved, while respecting contractual obligations." - Rik Van de Walle, rector

What steps have already been taken?

We initially attempted, directly and through diplomatic channels, to urge the European Commission to exclude Israeli partners from programmes and projects financed by Europe. In mid-June, the EC announced that it did not intend to do so. This means that Ghent University has to take the initiative on a project-by-project basis to apply for a consortium change. After such a change, either the Israeli partner or Ghent University will leave the project. We assume that the latter will be the most likely outcome.

The decision at the end of May was followed by a period of information gathering. The researchers involved were asked to provide all relevant information by 31 August 2024 so that Ghent University could prepare a dossier to discontinue its participation in each of the consortia. In September and October, based on the information provided, an analysis for each project was done to identify the different scenarios. Among other things, the exact tasks of the Israeli partner in the research project were examined, those of Ghent University and who could take over these tasks.

In the Erasmus+ education cooperation, the consortium members jointly decided to put the Israeli partner on non-active. For the sake of the safety of the participating students as well, cooperation between the Israeli partner and the other consortium partners is no longer possible.

In the meantime, we have asked the coordinators of the other consortia to take the first formal steps to start the procedure to initiate the consortium change. The coordinators will put this question for consortium change to the EC.

What are the next steps?

When a consortium coordinator gets the green light from the EC, we can discuss the modalities of the discontinuation with the coordinator and the partners. Next, the consortium needs to make a decision on this and will relay this decision tot the EC.

Rik Van de Walle: 'Unfortunately, the final decision is not in our hands. That is why it is very difficult to estimate when the full exit will be completed. It is expected that some consortia will be easier to exit than others, for instance because our tasks in them are more limited. Either way, it remains our firm intention to succeed for each project, while naturally protecting the interests of the researchers involved to the maximum extent possible.'

Find out more

Read more about the discontinuing of our ongoing collaborations with Israeli partners in the report on the web pages of the Commission on Human Rights Policy and Dual Use Research.

Ghent University will continue to inform its staff and students of important milestones in this complex undertaking.