Israeli scientists are speaking out against academic boycotts, insisting they oppose their government’s policies while still facing exclusion from international research collaborations.
Sarel Fleishman, head of the computational protein design lab at the Weizmann Institute near Tel Aviv, described how his team had been cut off from a European research consortium despite their operate on projects like a heat-resistant, low-cost malaria vaccine.
“With a large number of European labs gathered in a consortium, we had drafted a research proposal on enzyme design at the start of 2024,” he said. “Then, suddenly, our work was boycotted by a foreign university.”
Fleishman emphasized that he and many of his colleagues are critical of the Israeli government, yet they are being labeled as enemies by boycott advocates.
“For them, we are left-wing enemies,” he noted, highlighting what he calls the “double penalty” faced by liberal Israeli academics who oppose state policies but are still targeted by cultural and academic boycotts.
The Weizmann Institute, a major scientific research center south of Tel Aviv, hosts numerous international collaborations, and Fleishman’s lab employs around twenty people working on synthetic proteins for medical applications.
According to recent monitoring, academic boycotts targeting Israeli institutions have increased by 66 percent compared to the period following the October 2023 Gaza conflict, with hundreds of incidents reported across Europe and North America.
The United States, Belgium, Spain, and the United Kingdom have recorded the highest numbers of such actions, followed by the Netherlands, Italy, and Canada.
Israeli university leaders say they are building stronger ties with global Jewish communities and seeking government support to counter the boycotts, though they acknowledge meaningful change will take time.
