Left MEPs raise concerns over Horizon Europe funding to Israel

MEPs in the European Parliament’s Left political group have criticised the flow of Horizon Europe research funding to Israel, and the overall shift in emphasis towards the programme supporting economic competitiveness. 

Israel has long been an associated country to the Framework Programmes, meaning its scientists can participate on an equal basis to their EU counterparts, both leading projects and receiving money. 

But this has become particularly controversial since the country’s attack on Gaza in retaliation for a Hamas assault on Israel in October 2023. 

Last year, protests against Israel spread across university campuses in Europe, and several universities said they would end ties with Israel, throwing into doubt several ongoing Horizon projects. 

Now, Left MEPs have again criticised Israel’s involvement in Horizon Europe, arguing it risked “including complicity in war crimes abroad.” 

Responding on March 11 to a review of Horizon by MEPs, a statement by the group  said that EU research funds were still flowing to Israeli defence firms, citing research from the Transnational Institute, a think-tank based in Amsterdam. 

Since the October 2023 attacks, the EU has approved 130 Horizon Europe research projects involving researchers based in Israel, including those at Israel Aerospace Industries, the country’s major aerospace company and a significant supplier of its military, the Transnational Institute found last year. 

For example, the aerospace firm has received more than €200,000 as part of a project to create new materials, which runs until 2027. 

This money continues to flow to Israel “despite the serious allegations of war crimes and genocide against Israel,” the Left Group said in its statement. 

Last year, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for war crimes against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s former defence minister, plus the leaders of Hamas. 

In December last year, Amnesty International concluded that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel has firmly pushed back against both allegations. 

The Left rapporteur on the Horizon Europe report, Rudi Kennes, said that the programme risked supporting “funding initiatives linked to human rights violations, such as Israeli weapons and surveillance software used in occupied territory,” and the group would vote against it. 

But other MEPs hit back at the Left’s stance. “Already before the attack on Israel by Hamas they wanted by any means to exclude Israel from the Framework Programmes,” said Christian Ehler, spokesperson for the centre-right European People’s Party in the Parliament’s committee on Industry, Research and Energy, and the author of the Horizon report. 

“In general, Horizon Europe is a civil programme,” he said. “It is the Parliament's clear position that its successor, FP10, will also remain civil, as reflected in my own-initiative report. This means it does not fund defence research for the Israeli government, as the programme has previously been accused of by the Left."