The exclusion of Israel from the research and innovation program on the horizon in the European Union and its support for science, as shown, will return the Israeli years back and descend its position. Along with the cuts in international cooperation and research by the Trump administration, it will be an unprecedented major blow to the science and technology sector and the universities of Israel.
“Cooperation is the basis of science”
Professor David Harel of the Weizmann Institute for Computer Science is the head of the Israel Academy of Humanities. He says: “In today’s science, especially in natural sciences and fine sciences, a large part of the best research is conducted in cooperation.”
“In some things, it is impossible to do good science in one country. It is not only the official joint research, but also conferences and conversations in the corridors in which the best ideas were born. Cooperation is the basis of all scientific works, not only in studies that are worth millions but also in more modest studies.”
“Science is crucial to defense, high technology, economy, and medicine. We cannot imagine the state of Israel without the leadership of science. Loss of horizon will be a fatal blow to Israeli science.”
“There is no other program like this in the world,” a senior official of the Israeli Higher Education Council adds. “Just as the person who does not participate in the Olympic Games cannot be an important player in global sport, it is impossible to imagine the Israeli flag without the horizon program.”
While Israeli researchers also benefit from grants from the National Health Institutes in the United States (NIH), which are also at risk of local reasons in the United States, their scope is not similar to the growth of the horizon program, at a value of 93.5 billion euros annually.
Thousands of Israeli researchers received grants of 1.3 billion euros under Horizon 2020 (2014-2020 program). Under the current program, which will continue until 2027, more than a billion euros has been received so far.
“Israeli achievement – ranked second after Switzerland”
Israel’s success in the program has become so far through merit, and even recent events, there has been a great demand for working with Israeli researchers. Even today, it is not certain that researchers in Europe believe that the Israelis can be easily replaced. On the Horizon 2020 program, 12.8 % of the grants of grants from the Israelis were approved, compared to an average of 11.9 % for the entire program. Today, the chances of success in the European Union as a whole are 16 % to 17 %, while Israel is 15.3 %.
Related articles
The UK is suspending free trade talks with Israel on Gaza
With our support, Tide turns again in Israel in Europe
The French Foreign Minister presents the review of the Israel-European Union Agreement
In the prominent European Research Council (ERC), an important part and leaders of the horizon content, Israel was and still is especially successful. In Horizon 2020, its success rate was 18 %, which is a second place after Switzerland. “Let’s take a moment to appreciate that, because scientists from all over the world come to Switzerland, but who comes to us? This number is only the result of the work of Israelis and Jews.”
“People do not want to harm science,” says Harreel. “They know that what can be done with Israeli researchers is very important for the entire world. They also know that harming science weakens the sector that greatly opposes government work.”
“Meanwhile, the situation in the United States is worse. The grants were suddenly canceled there, and the researcher does not understand where he will pay his students or equipment suppliers. Researchers are stopped from outside the country,” he says.
“But this also affects us, because we also receive scholarships from the National Health Institutes, and we send our best researchers to train in leading universities in the United States. In science, everything is connected and everything is international.”
The problem is not only the loss of money
A senior official in the Higher Education Council says: “In addition to losing money from direct grants from the horizon program, the push of Israel to get out of the program can have the effect of snowball. Here, the country is excluded from international sciences.
“Like the rest of the world, we are now preparing to attract promises who are afraid to go to the United States because of the uncertainty there about the future of science and the state of immigration. How can we attract them to us if ourselves are a problem?” Harril agrees that the consequences may be felt even before making an official decision. “The moment we start talking about the issue, the complete position towards the Israeli flag is affected by it. The arbitration committees are supposed to be objective, but in the end, these people are human. We really feel that the imagination of the Israeli flag in the world has been affected.”
A low opportunity for the worst scenario
It is necessary to agree on the decision to exclude Israel from the European Union’s Agreements, which have identified relations between Israel and the European Union since the 1990s, and this scenario appears to be unlikely. Israel estimates that countries like Hungary and Germany will prohibit such a step.
The discussion of these agreements can end in partial sanctions that will include Israel’s suspension from the horizon program. These sanctions can be approved by a qualified majority, but the Israeli Innovation Authority believes that the opportunity of such a scenario is also low. “Since the majority is determined by the size of the population in countries, and because of the weight of countries such as Germany, Italy and Hungary, this scenario is considered at this stage unlikely and even hopelessly in our evaluation.”
In both cases, the decision is expected to be taken in the European Union by June 23. Discussions on the next horizon frame program, which will start in 2027, are also expected to begin in the next six months. Meanwhile, nothing should change officially in the remaining two years in the current program, but the indirect effect marks are already visible.
According to the source in the Higher Education Council, “as long as no official decision has been taken, the program is not allowed to block grants from the groups in which the Israelis participate. However, we see a certain decrease, even if it is small at the present time, in the number of grants that are received. It happens to Israeli members in the program in the future?”
The Israel Academy of Humanities and Sciences: The situation is complex and dangerous
The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities published a harsh statement yesterday that it stated that there is a real danger to the future of scientific and academic cooperation between Israel and Europe and Israel’s participation in the horizon programs.
The document said: “The fear of harming the European support channel, and thus the future of the Israeli flag, is gaining a new force in the time of disturbing developments in the United States.” “The Trump administration’s discounts in federal research budgets, discounts in cooperation with foreign researchers, and freezing bilateral grants have already begun to negatively affect Israeli research financing, and this is likely to get worse in the future. This trend increases Israeli research dependence on cooperation with Europe and clarify the seriousness of the current situation.
“The Oscars call for the Israeli government to act immediately and decisive, and use all the tools available to it to prevent harm to the partnership agreement with the European Union. The government must work to create conditions that allow the continuation of economic and scientific cooperation with Europe during the treatment of international concerns that have been raised and pressure on the national interests of the Ezistari race.
“We call on all research and science institutions in Europe not to mix non -professional considerations with scientific cooperation with the state of Israel and refrain from measures to stop financing research, severed relations, or academic boycott that can harm Israeli sciences only, but also the global flag.”
It was published by Globes, Israel Business News – En.globes.co.il – on May 26, 2025.
© Copy Publish Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. , 2025.
The post Calls to exclude Israel from Horizon jeopardize research first appeared on Investorempires.com.
