Ariel University slams ‘racist, BDS-like’ State Department

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(June 27, 2023 / JNS)

The US State Department’s decision to end science and technology cooperation with Israeli entities on the 1949 Armistice Line (aka the Green Line) is racist and looks like a BDS-like double standard, it said on Monday. Ariel University.

The harsh reaction comes after the US administration announced it was returning to a long-standing policy of restricting funding to Israeli institutions located above the Green Line, reversing a Trump administration decision three years ago. years that removed geographic limitations as criteria for candidacy for the US government. funding.

There should be no political limitations on research that benefits society and the health, safety and well-being of people around the world, Bobby Brown, senior vice president at Ariel University, told JNS . The State Department has overhauled the disgusting, anti-Jewish practice, which effectively reinstates BDS and racism, he said.

While the US administration tried to impose peace from the top down according to its political world view, universal medical research from universities promotes peace from the top society, he added.

It’s time to rid the world of the racist and BDS mentality at the State Department, Brown said. Research, cooperation and joint projects that benefit humanity must be accepted with both hands.

The United States maintains strong science and technology cooperation with Israel, but the recent decision limits it again to pre-1967 lines, in line with US foreign policy, which advocates a two-state solution.

The State Department recently issued foreign policy guidance to relevant agencies stating that engaging in bilateral science and technology cooperation with Israel in geographic areas that came under Israeli administration after June 5 1967 and which remain subject to final status negotiations, is inconsistent with US foreign policy, a State Department spokesperson said.

This guidance simply reflects the longstanding position of the United States, reaffirmed by this administration, that the final disposition of the geographic areas that came under the administration of Israel after June 5, 1967 is a matter of final status and that we are working towards a two-way negotiation – a state solution in which Israel lives in peace and security alongside a viable Palestinian state,” the spokesperson continued.

The U.S. move aligns it with the European Union, which has the same geo-restrictions in place.

Ariel University, which is the institution most affected by the policy change, has about 17,000 students, of whom about 10% are Arabs.

After Trump’s move, he won three major U.S. research grants that year, Brown said, and had recently applied to the USAID State Department for a fund that would pay the costs for Palestinians to receive services. medical services provided at the new medical center of the university.

It was the university’s recent candidacy that underscored the Biden administration’s policy shift, he said. He noted that under this policy, Arab universities in the region could continue to seek US funding.

Cruz points to Wuhan funding

Current US policy is wrong, Foreign Secretary Eli Cohen said this week.

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also condemned the U.S. decision and pledged to work to change it again in a future administration.

The Biden administration defends funding scientific research in Wuhan with the Chinese Communist Party, but they discriminate against and prohibit cooperation with Jews based on where they live, he said in a statement. I will do my best to reverse this decision and prohibit such anti-Semitic discrimination by the US government in the future.

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