An Irish university has displayed rank hypocrisy by joining a European Union-funded project involving two Israeli partners less than a year after expressing anger at the violence inflicted on Gaza.
University College Dublin (UCD) is part of the consortium taking part in Cataloop, a new research scheme on artificial intelligence. Allocated almost $3 million by the EU, the project also includes the Technion – an Israeli technology institute – and the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
The willingness of UCD to continue collaborating with Israel casts doubt on whether the college’s leadership was sincere when it spoke out against the genocidal war on Gaza.
After students had set up an encampment in solidarity with Palestinians, UCD issued a statement in June 2024. It claimed that UCD was “outraged by the ongoing mass killing of civilians” and “particularly appalled by the destruction of all universities in Gaza and attacks on their students, faculty and staff.”
In the earlier stages of the genocidal war, Orla Feely, UCD’s president, had been criticized for failing to take a strong or clear position. The University Observer – a newspaper published by UCD students – noted that the college’s administration was reticent about its “existing and public ties with higher education institutions in Israel.”
The paper suggested that cooperation between UCD and the Technion was especially problematic. The Technion’s department of aerospace engineering is effectively a laboratory for Israel’s top weapons makers.
Joining the Cataloop project is an act of insolence by UCD’s administration. Not only is UCD insulting its own students, the college is indicating that the shock it registered over the destruction of Gaza’s universities may not have been genuine. (more...)
University College Dublin betrays students by teaming up with Israel’s Technion
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