News / Palestine

Despite claims of supporting global peace, EU gives $15mn to Israel war industry

Monday, 22 February 2021 4:06 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 22 February 2021 4:09 PM ]

The file photo shows Israeli soldiers near the border with the besieged Gaza Strip. (By Reuters)

A new report says despite claims by the European Union (EU) of advocating human rights and international peace across the world, the bloc’s scientific arm has already given the repressive Israeli regime millions of dollars to develop weapons it unscrupulously uses against Palestinians.

In a new report on Monday, the US-based Electronic Intifada, an online publication covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said the EU gave 15 million dollars in “creative” aid to Israel’s war machine, whose arms and troops have been brutally used against Palestinians for decades.

The report said two Israeli weapons firms – namely Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries – together received generous aid from Horizon 2020, the EU’s scientific research program.

Furthermore, Horizon 2020 has indirectly supported Israel’s military through financially supporting the regime’s universities, which are in a way or another linked to the regime’s war machine.

Horizon 2020 gave Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science over 244 million dollars, making it the occupying regime’s number-one beneficiary. Although the so-called scientific institute claims to “advance science,” it also runs courses for young people on the cusp of joining Israel’s military, which is infamous for killing and maiming Palestinians.

The Weizmann center has also teamed up with Israel’s weapons firms on various projects.

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Israel, known to have around 400 nuclear warheads, which poses tremendous risk to the region, together with its allies accuse Iran of having a covert nuclear program with the intention of producing nuclear bombs.

Tel Aviv University also gobbled up about 197 million dollars from Horizon 2020, making it Israel’s number-two beneficiary.

“Elbit and the university’s engineering department have set up what they call a ‘unique entrepreneurship program’ so that they can ‘boost the next generation of technological leaders,’” the report added.

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One of the snipers revealed that he had even managed to break the “knee record.”

Horizon 2020 also gave Israel’s Hebrew University of Jerusalem almost 193 million dollars, making it the regime’s third beneficiary.

“The lavishing of Hebrew University can be seen as a triumph for creative thinking. To justify it, the EU has disregarded how the university is active in occupied East Jerusalem. The same kind of creativity can be discerned in how the EU acts oblivious to how Hebrew University trains military spies,” the report said.