Israel and the European Union completed talks for Israel to join the Horizon Europe scientific research funding program, which includes a controversial clause banning the use of funds in East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and Judea and Samaria.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said that “Israel’s involvement in Horizon is another aspect that positions Israel as a central player in the world’s largest and most important research and development programme.”
In 2013, the then Minister of Justice Tzipi Livny reached an agreement with Catherine Ashton, the then EU foreign envoy, which included a settlement suggested by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett – who was the economy minister at the time – with an addendum that stated That Israel opposes the boycott of Judea and Samaria on legal and political grounds.
The agreement also requires Israeli companies, organizations or educational institutions that apply for European loans or grants to ensure that funds are not invested on the Green Line.
Now that a final draft is in place, the government and the Knesset will have to ratify the agreement with its settlement exclusion clauses.
Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Housing and Construction Minister Zeev Elkin, who was Foreign Minister and Deputy Foreign Minister, strongly opposed the agreement in 2013. Bennett did not sign the agreement, even though he was economy minister; Instead Yaakov Perry, the then Minister of Science, did.
But this time, Lieberman praised the Horizon program, saying it is “one of the leading research and development programs in the world … Israel participating in the program expresses the importance that Israel has for research and development.” Keeps investment and support as a key to future economic growth.”
Elkin’s office explained that he opposed an earlier draft of the Horizon 2020 agreement, but he and the rest of Likud ministers backed it when he and Bennett negotiated a “softer” version of regional conditions.
“This time, as long as it is the same version as 2013, Elkin will support the agreement,” his spokesman said. “At the same time, thanks to demands from Elkin and the New Hope Party in coalition talks, the government on Sunday decided to add NIS 70 million to strengthen Ariel University and solve budgetary problems for its students.”
The Prime Minister’s Office had no comment.
Last year, when the government weighed imposing sovereignty on Israeli cities in Judea and Samaria, EU sources said Israel could be left out of the Horizon program if it goes through a merger. That plan was scrapped when Israel signed the Abrahamic Agreement for Peace and Normalization with the United Arab Emirates.
Israel – along with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Justice and Innovation, Science and Technology and the Council of Higher Education – and the European Union negotiated membership of the East in Horizon Europe in recent years, and the program is considered a major partnership on the side. The agreement is set to be officially signed in December.
Lapid said that “joining the horizon brings high-quality jobs, technological advancement and new Israeli businesses … The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to create economic and scientific opportunities for Israel.”
Israel Innovation Authority Chief Scientist Ami Appelbaum said Israeli institutions have received more than 1.3 billion euros from the previous programme, Horizon 2020, which “had a significant positive impact on the quality of research, strengthening the international reputation of Israeli education and Its ties with the European Research Community.”
Those impacts can be seen in terms of international market penetration and growth potential, Appelbaum said, dubbing the Horizon Europe program “a strategic asset to the Israeli economy.”
Yael Rabia-Tzadok, deputy director general of the Foreign Ministry for Economics, said the agreement reflects Europe’s trust in Israel as a science, technology and innovation asset.
The US put the Trump administration’s declaration that settlements in Judea and Samaria were not illegal, into action by expanding scientific agreements with Israel to include those areas as well as the Golan Heights. New versions of those agreements were signed at Ariel University in October 2020; The Biden administration has not reversed them.
In March, 500 academics from Europe and Israel signed a letter to the European Union to ensure that none of its funds are used for projects involving Ariel University, which are above the green line. Is. He cited examples in which Ariel University was involved in Horizon 2020 projects, adding that it “falsely hinted at project materials based in Israel.”
“Research projects should not be used to legalize or otherwise maintain illegal Israeli settlements. The European Union from its own obligations in this regard without further empowering Israel’s illegal military occupation and persecution of millions of Palestinians, and Palestinians cannot change without reducing the indispensability of the people and universally recognized rights under international law.” stated in the letter.