Increasing disagreement over Israeli H2020 participation

There is increasing division in Israel over the country’s future participation in Horizon 2020 after the EU issued guidelines suggesting Israeli participation would be limited to pre-1967 borders.

Members of the Israeli government have reacted angrily to the guidelines, with the Economy Minister Naftali Bennett calling for a break in co-operating with the EU. The country’s defence minister, Moshe Yaalon, has also instructed Israeli officials to “freeze contacts with EU representatives in Area C”, according to the European Jewish Press.

However, there appears to be a split within the government with the country’s Science and Technology Minister, Jacob Perry, urging co-operation on Horizon 2020 and advising against any hasty decisions. According to The Times of Israel, academics have described their ‘devastation’ if the country pulls out of the EU’s next research and innovation framework programme, and warned of significant consequences to the national science sector.

The EU has said it is happy discuss the issue with the Israeli government. Yet according to comments carried in The Times of Israel, Andreas Reinicke, the EU’s special representative to the Middle East peace process, Brussels is unwilling to modify the guidelines, which are due to take effect at the beginning of 2014.

The EU released new guidelines to Israel in July, stating that “only Israeli entities having their place of establishment within Israel’s pre-1967 borders will be eligible” to receive future EU grants, prizes and financial instruments. This would therefore exclude any firms or universities operating in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights.

Earlier this week, the head of the Israel’s National Security Council, Yaakov Amidror, met with colleagues from the education, economy and science and technology ministries to discuss the issue and in order to formulate policy proposals to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.