Calls to exclude Israel from Horizon jeopardize research

Israel’s exclusion from the EU’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program and its support for science, as is being discussed, would set Israeli science back years and relegate its status. Together with cuts in international cooperation and research by the US Trump administration, it would be an unprecedented major blow for the science and technology sector and Israel’s universities.

“Collaboration is the basis for science”

Prof. David Harel of the Weizmann Institute of Science Department of Computer Science is the President of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He says, “In the science of today, and especially in natural sciences and the precise sciences, a large part of the best research is carried out in collaboration.”

He adds, “On certain 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 where the best ideas are born. Cooperation is the basis of all scientific work, not only in studies worth millions but also in more modest studies.”

“Science is critical to defense, high-tech, the economy, medicine. We cannot imagine the State of Israel without leading science. Losing Horizon would be an almost fatal blow to Israeli science.”

“There is no other program like this in the world,” adds a senior official at the Israel Council for Higher Education. “Just as someone who does not participate in the Olympics cannot really be a significant player in world sports, it is impossible to imagine Israeli science without the Horizon program.”

While Israeli researchers also benefit from grants from the National Institutes of Health in the US (NIH), which are also at risk for domestic US reasons, their scope is not comparable to that of the Horizon program, worth €93.5 billion annually.

Thousands of Israeli researchers received grants worth €1.3 billion under Horizon 2020 (the 2014-2020 program). Under the current program, which runs until 2027, more than a €1 billion have been received so far.

“The Israeli achievement – second only to Switzerland”

Israel’s success in the program so far has come by merit, and until recent events there was a high demand for work with Israeli researchers. Even today, it is not certain that researchers in Europe think that Israelis are so easily replaceable. In the Horizon 2020 program, 12.8% of grant applications submitted by Israelis were approved, compared to an average of 11.9% for the entire program. Today, the chances of success in the EU as a whole is 16%-17%, while Israel’s are 15.3%.

In the prestigious European Research Council (ERC) program, which is a significant and leading part of Horizon content, Israel was and is still considered to be particularly successful. In Horizon 2020, its success rate was 18%, an achievement second only to Switzerland. “Let’s take a moment to appreciate this, because scientists from all over the world come to Switzerland, but who comes to us? This figure is only the result of the work of Israelis and Jews,” says a senior member of the Israel Science Foundation.

“People don’t want to harm science,” says Harel. “They know that what can be done with Israeli researchers is very important for the whole world. They also know that harming science weakens a sector that, by and large, opposes government action.”

“In the meantime,” he says, “the situation in the US is worse. Grants have suddenly been canceled there, and a researcher doesn’t understand where he’s going to pay his students or his equipment suppliers. Visas for researchers from outside the country are being stopped.”

“But this also affects us, because we also receive grants from the NIH, and we send our best researchers for training at leading universities in the US. In science, everything is connected and everything is international.”

The problem is not only losing money

The senior official at the Council for Higher Education says, “On top of losing money from direct grants from the Horizon program, pushing Israel out of the program could have a snowball effect. Israel will not be invited to participate in research with the leading researchers, it will not have access to the world’s leading scientific infrastructure, infrastructure that is generally not available here. Researchers, even Israelis who have gone abroad, will not want to come or return home, because they will know that here they cannot receive the grants, and that the country is excluded from international science.

“Like the rest of the world, we are now preparing to lure promising scientists who are afraid to go to the US because of the uncertainties there about the future of science and the immigration situation. How can we attract them to us if we ourselves are such a problematic place?” Harel agrees that the consequences may be felt even before an official decision is made. “The moment we even start talking about the issue, the entire attitude towards Israeli science is affected by it. The judging committees are supposed to be objective, but in the end, these are human beings. We already feel that the perception of Israeli science in the world has been harmed.”

Low chance of the worst-case scenario

The decision to exclude Israel from the EU association agreements, which have defined relations between Israel and the EU since the 1990s, must be agreed unanimously, and this scenario currently seems unlikely. Israel estimates that countries such as Hungary and Germany will block such a step.

The discussion of these agreements could also end in partial sanctions that would include suspending Israel from the Horizon program. Such sanctions can be passed by a qualified majority, but the Israel Innovation Authority believes that the chance of such a scenario is also low. “Since the majority is determined by the size of the countries’ populations, and due to the weight of countries such as Germany, Italy and Hungary, this scenario is considered at this stage to be unlikely and even hopeless in our assessment.”

Either way, the decision in the EU is expected to be made by June 23. Discussions on the next Horizon framework program, which will begin in 2027, are also expected to begin in the next six months. In the meantime, nothing should officially change in the two years remaining on the current program, but signs of an indirect impact are already visible.

According to the source at the Council for Higher Education, “As long as no official decision has been made, the program is not allowed to block grants from groups in which Israelis participate. Nevertheless, we are seeing a certain decline, even if small for now, in the number of grants received. This is happening not only because of official boycotts from a small number of universities in Europe, but also because of practical concerns. Is it worth bringing an Israeli into the project if we don’t know what will happen to the Israeli members of the program in the future?”

Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities: The situation is complicated and dangerous

The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities yesterday published a harsh statement in which it stated that there is a real danger about the future of scientific and academic cooperation between Israel and Europe and Israel’s participation in the Horizon programs.

“The fear of harming the European support channel, and thus also the future of Israeli science, is gaining new strength at a time of worrying developments in the US,” the document said. “The Trump administration’s cuts in federal research budgets, reductions in collaborations with foreign researchers, and freezing of bilateral grants have already begun to negatively affect the funding of Israeli research and this will likely worsen in the future. This trend intensifies the dependence of Israeli research on collaborations with Europe and illustrates how complex and dangerous the current situation is.

“The Academy Council calls on the Israeli government to act immediately and decisively, utilizing all the tools at its disposal to prevent harm to the partnership agreement with the EU. The government must work to create conditions that will allow for continued economic and scientific cooperation with Europe while addressing the international concerns that have been raised and safeguarding Israel’s national interests.

“We call on all research and science institutions in Europe not to mix unprofessional considerations with scientific cooperation with the State of Israel and to refrain from measures to stop funding research, sever ties, or display academic boycotts that could harm not only Israeli science but also global science and the common good.”

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on May 26, 2025.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.