University College Dublin betrays students by teaming up with Israel's Technion

UCD keeps students in the dark about its cooperation with Israel. (Alejandro Escario Méndez/Flickr)

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.

Duplicity

UCD does not have a monopoly on such insolence.

The University of Galway – located on Ireland’s west coast – went further than UCD when faced by student protests last year by promising a review of its relations with Israeli counterparts.

Breaking the spirit and probably the letter of that promise, the University of Galway subsequently accepted the role of coordinator in an EU project on “integrating seawater treatment and green hydrogen production.” Other participants in that project include the aforementioned Technion.

Responding to complaints by students, Helen Maher, a vice-president at the University of Galway, has committed to ensuring that a “human rights impact assessment” is carried out on the project. “This will be undertaken as a matter of immediate priority,” Maher promised in an internal email message, which I have seen.

While it is positive that the University of Galway has been shamed into taking action, questions should still be raised about why it agreed to a new arrangement involving the Technion in the first place.

Like Palestine, Ireland has experienced colonization, oppression and partition. By marching in vast numbers, ordinary Irish people have made clear that they have a deep empathy with Palestinians.

Under pressure, Irish university leaders have claimed to have empathy, too. The claims are nullified by how those colleges have kept teaming up with Israeli counterparts.

The universities should not be allowed to get away with their duplicity.