UW's Complicity

"University of Waterloo and Technion have a history of research collaboration going back almost 20 years."^[14]- UW’s VP of Research

In 2014, the University of Waterloo partners with Technion. In 2021, the University of Waterloo renews this partnership.UW and Technion's main area of collaboration is Quantum Information systems, an area of research that is considered "dangerous" by the Government of Canada.^[15]In 2022, the Israeli Defense Ministry pledged $62 million dollars to build the first quantum computer.^[16]Aviv Zeevi noted that "there are military uses" to this technology.^[17]Similarly, Dr. Danny Gold, the Head of the Defense R&D at the Defense Ministry of Israel, confirmed its importance to the "state’s security".^[18]These statements confirm the utilization of quantum technology for entities such as the Israeli military.

Technion Projects

Student Projects

At the 50th Israel Annual Conference on Aerospace Sciences, Technion students presented the following projects^[3]:

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems

Founded as Israel's National R&D Defense Laboratory

Elbit Systems

References

Click here for a list of our references

Jan 2016

Ethical Collaboration

WPIRG establishes PSAG (Palestinian Solidarity Action Group).

PSAG initiates a petition garnering 4,400 signatures to sever ties with the following Israeli academic institutions: Technion Israel Institute of Technology, the University of Haifa, Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Weizmann Institute of Science.

The results are 56% (2,329) saying No, 44% (1,803) saying Yes. Thus, the referendum is unsuccessful.

Apr 2023

Strategic Proposals with Technion

The University of Waterloo and the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology establish a strong partnership through reciprocal visits led by their respective Presidents, joint conferences, and workshops. They identify each other as strategic partners for advancing collaboration in priority research areas of national and international significance.

The aim of this call for proposals is to foster and enhance cooperation in joint research, innovation, and commercialization between the two institutions. The timeline is as shown below:

Click here for more information.

Dec 2023

Dr. Sofyan Taya, a guest scholar at UW, is killed by an Israeli airstrike inside the Gaza Strip

Dr. Sofyan Taya, a Palestinian scientist and physicist, was a guest scholar who received a fellowship grant at the University of Waterloo (UW) from 2021 to 2022. His expertise spanned the fields of electromagnetics and optics. During his time at UW, he collaborated with several faculty members, including Professor Omar Ramahi, in co-authoring 10 research papers.

Tragically, on December 2, 2023, Dr. Taya, along with his wife and two adult children, lose their lives in an Israeli airstrike near Jabaliya, just north of Gaza City, inside the Gaza Strip.

On December 14, 2023, UW Voices for Palestine and the Indigenous Students Association hold a vigil for Dr. Taya in the Arts Quad on campus. The vigil follows a statement signed by 16 UW student associations calling for the university to publish their own statement about Taya and condemn “intentional Israeli attacks on academic institutions,” among other demands.

There has been no statement or acknowledgment of the murder of Dr. Sofyan Taya by the administration of UW to date.

UW’s Partnership With Israeli Academic Institutions

Exploring Complicity in Violating International Law and Committing War Crimes

Prepared by UW Alliance for Human Rights of Palestinians
Date Prepared: Feb 12, 2024

Table of Contents

• 1. Abstract

• 2. Introduction

• 3. Technion’s Complicity

• 4. Illegal Settlements

• 5. Establishing Apartheid

• 6. UW’s Partnership with Technion

• 7. Conclusion and Recommendations

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Abstract

For decades now, Israeli academic institutions have been complicit in promoting Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians. One of the methods they use to achieve this is by researching and developing technology and weapons that are used to oppress Palestinians. This report will explore how these Israeli academic institutions are complicit in violating the human rights of Palestinians, breaching international law, and committing war crimes. Finally, we will explore the partnerships between the University of Waterloo and these institutions, and why it is imperative for this university to sever ties with institutions complicit in heinous war crimes.

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Introduction

Israeli academic institutions such as Tel Aviv University, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Bar-Ilan University, the Weizman Institute, Hebrew University, and Ben Gurion University have collaborated with the Israeli arms industry to research and develop new technologies that help Israel impose its illegal occupation.

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Technion’s Complicity in Violating Human Rights

Let us take Technion - Israel Institute of Technology as an example; it is an academic institution which has practically transformed itself into one of the Israeli military’s R&D departments by helping it develop machines such as Caterpillar’s D-9 bulldozer, an armoured vehicle which is deployed to demolish Palestinian homes and replace them with illegal settlements. An upwards of 25,000 Palestinian homes have been destroyed in the last 50 years.

The Israeli Defense Forces decided to increase their deployment of D9 Bulldozers after witnessing its success during Operation Cast Lead, a war that killed 1,400 Palestinians, and was found to have strong evidence of war crimes in a UN-led fact-finding mission.

Another weapon the IDF deploys is "The Scream", developed by a subsidiary of Technion by the name of Electro-Optics Research & Development (EORD), which is used to further suppress the Palestinian population by creating sounds that are unbearable to human ears.

The D9 Caterpillar Bulldozer which Technion has helped develop

Ilan Pappe states in his book, The Forgotten Palestinians:

"Diminishing the Palestinian presence in the Galilee was also fully endorsed by the prestigious union of Israeli wine producers, who adopted a new plan prepared by leading academic figures from the Technion. The plan was publicized in 2003 and stated that the Jewish ‘takeover’ of the Galilee was a national priority. It began by saying: ‘It is either them or us. The land problems in the Galilee proved that any territory not taken by Zionist elements is going to be coveted by non-Zionists.’ The gist of what they suggested was to seize land by force in any territory deemed important strategically and to keep it until Jews settle on it."

In summary, Technion has been complicit in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians; a 1993 United Nations Commission defined ethnic cleansing as “the planned deliberate removal from a specific territory, persons of a particular ethnic group, by force or intimidation, in order to render that area ethnically homogenous”, and it is considered a crime against humanity under the statute of the International Criminal Court.

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How Illegal Are These Settlements?

The UN Security Council has affirmed for several years now that Israel’s establishment of settlements in Palestinian territory since 1967 has “no legal validity, constituting a flagrant violation under international law”. They have also been rejected by Israel’s Supreme Court, calling them “unlawful acts perpetrated by one population while harming the rights of another”.

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Establishing Apartheid, A War Crime

Through imposing such a monstrous system of oppression, Israel has imposed an apartheid against Palestinians, as stated by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. The 1973 UN Apartheid Convention defined apartheid as “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them”, and also as a crime against humanity.

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UW’s Partnership With Technion

By knowingly developing technology used by the IDF in house demolitions, illegal settlements and imposition of apartheid, Technion is actively and directly complicit in the violations of international law, and committing crimes against humanity.

Since 2014, the University of Waterloo has partnered with Technion, funnelling millions of dollars into research projects. In 2021, the two institutions renewed their partnership and reaffirmed their commitment to each other.

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Conclusion and Recommendations

For the University of Waterloo to partner with an institute that is complicit in war crimes is unacceptable. Other academics and academic institutions around the world that have severed ties with Israeli academic institutions complicit in violating international law include:

The University of Waterloo and its students must stand for justice and commit themselves to the right side of history.

"The one who stands for nothing will fall for anything"

- Malcolm X