Israeli companies and universities are involved in hundreds of research projects funded by the European Union. Left-wing politicians and NGOs fear that European money could help enhance Israel’s military capabilities.
In 2020, the European Union (EU) allocated €50,000 to a research and development project by a small Israeli start-up called Xtend. The stated goal: “To combine the best functionalities of both technologies” to open up “new possibilities in sectors such as public safety and security, construction, industrial inspection and entertainment.”
Five years later, the start-up has not broken through in the domestic drone or construction markets. However, the company’s aircraft – now under the name Xtend Defense – are at the heart of the military apparatus deployed by Israel in Gaza. According to statements by its CEO to the Wall Street Journal, they assisted the Israeli army in shooting down incendiary balloons sent by Hamas and exploring the network of tunnels built by the militant group under the enclave. Their drones, capable of precise movement and handling small explosives, reportedly even helped track Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar and filmed video showing him just before his death, according to the Reuters news agency.
This is providing fuel for those accusing the EU of complicity in the bloody war waged by Israel in response to the October 7 terrorist attack. As early as the start of 2024, a group of 300 European academics called on European institutions to halt funding for research projects involving Israeli partners “that may, directly or indirectly, violate international law and human rights.” As these calls intensified in recent months, the European Commission announced on May 20 that it would urgently review its Association Agreement with Israel to determine whether the Israeli government “respects its obligations,” particularly Article 2, which commits signatories to “respect for human rights and democratic principles.”
Partners closely linked to Israeli army
The grant awarded five years ago to Xtend fell under the Horizon research support program, which Israeli universities and industries can access in exchange for a financial contribution from Israel. According to data compiled by our Belgian partner De Tijd, some 921 research projects (both basic and applied) currently involve Israeli participants, which are expected to receive more than €1.1 billion in European funding (out of a total of €95.5 billion allocated for the 2021-2027 period).
Israel’s continued participation in this program has divided the European academic community. Some have called for outright exclusion, while others are opposed to a boycott that would penalize researchers for their government’s actions. And certain stakeholders fear losing access to valuable Israeli technological know-how. In recent months, discussions nonetheless have focused on a small number of research projects whose potential military applications could raise questions about the EU’s responsibility in violations of international law for which the Israeli army could be held accountable.
Officially, however, Horizon only funds research for civilian purposes. Not a single research project with defense significance has received a euro of European money, said European commissioner for research Ekaterina Zaharieva in November 2024. The reality, however, is more nuanced.
While most projects have indisputably civilian goals (medical research, history, biology), several Israeli military-industrial complex firms are included in the research consortia, such as Rafael Advanced Defense Systems (RADS). There are also academic institutions with strong ties to the army, for example, Technion and the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at Reichman University, and the Israeli Ministry of Defense itself.
The risk of military applications
The research focus of some subsidized programs also raises questions about the risk of “dual-use” for civilian and military purposes. This is the case for the UnderSec project. Presented as a civilian program to develop underwater security sensor prototypes, it involves numerous military partners – including from Israel, such as RADS and the Israeli Ministry of Defense, which appointed its former head of counterterrorism and special forces, Itay Almog, to the advisory board in charge of project security assessment. “it would be unsurprising if it were one with military applications” launched at the end of the project, predicted the non-governmental organizations Statewatch and IMI in an analysis published in 2024. The NGOs recalled that “the blockade of the Gaza Strip, which violates international law (…) has a strong maritime component.” The German institute Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, which coordinates UnderSec, did not respond to Le Monde‘s request for comment.
The MultiSpin.AI project, aimed at improving decentralized artificial intelligence (AI) systems, also sparks concerns. Coordinated by Bar-Ilan University in Israel, its partners included the start-up SpinEdge, which works with the country’s security services. Its advances could help improve both autonomous vehicle navigation and military drone operations.
For other projects, military applications are more hypothetical. Would creating materials that block electromagnetic interference, as pursued in the Safari program, someday benefit the aerospace group Israel Aerospace Industries, a project partner and a major supplier to the Israeli army? What about “innovative interception measures to combat crime” and terrorism being developed in the Poliiice project? Or “technological innovation in counterterrorism” targeted by EU-Glocter? Or the solutions to “modern security threats” that the IAMI project aims to offer using AI?
Responsibility of European partners
While all coordinators of these projects insisted they “focus exclusively on civilian applications,” as they committed in writing before being awarded funds, and while ethics experts scrutinized each project before approval, no mechanism allowed the European Commission to monitor potential medium and long-term military applications. “Within the consortia, partners reach agreements among themselves to share intellectual property and possibly launch products resulting from their research,” explained Alexandra Chukas, a specialist in this type of research project.
To mitigate the risks, members of The Left group in the European Parliament (far left) called on the European Commission to strictly refuse funding for “dual-use” research. “If the EU stopped funding any technology that could have a future military use or any organization with ties to the army, we would significantly limit civilian research in Europe,” countered MEP Christian Ehler, rapporteur for the Horizon program in the European Parliament. “Unless it is shown that a project directly leads to human rights violations, there is no legal basis to end funding for Israeli researchers,” added the German conservative MEP. Contacted for comment, the European Commission said it “had checked or was in the process of checking” all controversial projects. “At this stage, it has been concluded that Israeli beneficiaries had not breached any ethical rules,” stated the office of European Commissioner Zaharieva.
Among the research consortium participants, nearly all universities and companies contacted by Le Monde and De Tijd appeared determined for now to continue the projects. Responding to pro-Palestinian student protests, the Université Catholique de Louvain decided in July 2024 to remain in the MultiSpin.AI project in the name of “maintaining academic freedom.” The Brussels-based university VUB, on the other hand, chose to withdraw from the same project after a review by its ethics committee.