Weizmann Institute missile strikes hits EU-funded research projects

Missile strikes against Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science have disrupted several EU-funded research projects, with one scientist estimating around 15 European Research Council-funded projects could be disrupted. 

The Weizmann was hit earlier this week as Iran retaliated to Israel’s attacks on its nuclear facilities and military targets.  

“The amount of damage at the institute is enormous,” said Eldad Tzahor, a professor at Weizmann whose regenerative medicine lab was completely destroyed in the strike. “It was like a war zone.” 

Ninety percent of the institute’s buildings have been damaged in some way, said Tzahor, who was sheltering in a campus bunker when the night-time attack happened. 

Forty-four of the institute’s 270 research groups now need to find new homes, and internal estimates by the administration suggest it may cost around $500 million to repair the damage, he said. Researchers are now sheltering at home. “At the moment, there is no research,” Tzahor added. 

The Weizmann Institute has been one of the biggest players in the EU’s research Framework Programmes, receiving nearly €600 million since Israel associated in 1996, although this could be in jeopardy if the EU suspends association to pressure Israel to lift its blockade of food to Gaza. 

During Horizon Europe, which started in 2021, the institute has received 118 grants, including 63 from the European Research Council. This makes it the third most successful single institution at winning ERC grants, behind Copenhagen University and Tel Aviv University. 

ERC grantees hit

Oren Schuldiner, a developmental neuroscientist whose ERC-supported lab was also destroyed in the strike, estimated that the work of around 15 ERC recipients at Weizmann would be disrupted, although so far there is no official count. 

“The number of ERC grant holders that were affected is enormous,” he said. 

Of the damaged labs, about 10 had been completely obliterated, he said, and another 40 were in buildings that were “incapacitated,” meaning it could take years to find a new space, but some reagents and equipment were at least salvageable. 

So far, Schuldiner hasn’t had time to think about what the strike means for his ERC grant, as his focus has been on getting back to Israel from Germany. 

But he hopes the ERC will extend his grant, and provide extra money. “That would be wonderful,” he said. “Any help that we get will be instrumental.” 

The European Commission is currently monitoring the situation, said Thomas Regnier, spokesperson for tech sovereignty, defence, space and research, and “shares the concerns regarding recent reports.”

“At this stage, we have not received detailed information from ERC grantees at the Weizmann Institute,” he said. However, ERC grants do have force majeure clauses that allow flexibility if researchers are unable to continue their work. 

Double strike

The Iranian authorities have not publicly said if and why the Weizmann might have been targeted. But Tzahor, who showed government officials around the wreckage following the hit, said that two missiles had struck the complex of buildings. “It was very clear that it was not by coincidence,” he said. 

It could be retaliation for Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear scientists, Tzahor speculated.

In posting pictures of their destroyed labs online, some Weizmann scientists have been drawn into debate about Israel’s wars on Iran and Gaza, with some critics highlighting the institute’s own links to defence firms.

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Last year, Weizmann struck a deal with the Israeli military contractor Elbit Systems to develop “groundbreaking bio-inspired materials for defence applications.” 

Some Weizmann researchers do work on things like protecting drones from eavesdropping attacks, for example. But much of its focus is on health, medicine and biology. 

Schuldiner said he could to some extent understand what he called Iran’s “twisted logic” of targeting Israeli scientists in retaliation for Israel’s strikes on Iranian nuclear researchers. 

But he argued there was a major difference between strikes on Iranian nuclear scientists and the targeting of an entire institute that was “99.99%” basic research. 

He also said he had protested Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, which has decimated the university system there. In 2024, Israel dynamited Israa University, Gaza’s last remaining university, having first used it as a military base. 

The strike on the Weizmann Institute comes as the EU mulls whether to suspend its broader association agreement with Israel for human rights violations.

The bloc has turned against Israel for its blockade of Gaza, starving civilians of food. The European Council is expected to discuss a report into Israel’s conduct next week on June 23, after which it could take action, including suspending Horizon Europe association.