Skip to content

News

Press Release on July 15, 2025

Conflict over cooperation with Israel continues to smoulder – initiative by KIT members insists on review

The actions of the Israeli military in the Gaza war and the conditions in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel are coming under increasingly sharp criticism from the German public. Even the new federal government, which had long refrained from criticising Israel, has recently spoken of a violation of international humanitarian law.[1]

Since autumn 2024, an initiative by employees of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has been drawing attention to cooperation between KIT on the one hand and universities and research institutions in Israel on the other. The latter often work very closely with the military and, according to the group's research, are then directly and indirectly involved in violations of international law by the Israeli military. The ‘Initiative for Ethical Academic Relations at KIT (IEAT)’ is calling on the KIT Presidium to review existing collaborations to determine whether they are still compatible with the ethical guidelines that KIT has imposed on itself.

Last year, a number of European universities began to review their relationships with Israeli universities and research institutions and, in some cases, suspended them.[2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7] Although this has also been demanded by students, staff and external groups at several universities in Germany, they have not yet responded. The ‘Initiative for Ethical Academic Relations at KIT’ (IEAT) also faced strong opposition from the KIT management. ‘Since criticism of Israel is rightly a very sensitive issue in Germany, it was to be expected that our concerns would not immediately be met with open ears,’ says Dr. Max Tschol, co-founder of the initiative. ‘However, we were surprised by the rigorous rejection we encountered from the Presidium.’ In its initial response, the IEAT executive committee made negative statements and took positions that were not based on facts. ‘In addition, we were denied permission to hold an information and discussion event on the premises of KIT,’ adds Tschol.

Nevertheless, the initiative does not want to give up and is now inviting the public to a public event on 22 July at 7 p.m. in the Zieglersaal of the Akropolis restaurant at Baumeisterstraße 18 in Karlsruhe. In addition to a representative of the initiative, lawyer Rana Issazadeh, Jewish economist Dr Shir Hever and emeritus theologian Prof. Ulrich Duchrow will speak about the situation in Israel and Palestine and the responsibility of Western universities.

The IEAT sees the growing international consensus that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza as confirmation of the urgency of addressing this issue in this country.[8], [9] In her latest report entitled ‘From the Economy of Occupation to the Economy of Genocide’,[10] UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese criticises the international community for its hesitant attitude. She urges state and non-state actors to take decisive action against Israel's actions, including an immediate arms embargo, comprehensive sanctions and the suspension of trade agreements and investments.

Press Release on April 6, 2025

Executive Board of German University under Criticism: Staff initiative Calls for Urgent Review of Collaborations with Israeli Research and Teaching Institutions

An initiative by employees at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is criticizing its Executive Board for its unwillingness to seriously engage in a transparent and meaningful evaluation of the ethical permissibility of research collaborations that are at high risk of violating human rights. "After months of ease trying to persuade the Executive Board to engage in constructive and open dialogue, we feel compelled to address the issue publicly," says Dr. Maximilian Tschol, spokesperson for the Initiative for Ethical Academic Ties at KIT (IEAT).

Founded in 2024, the IEAT (https://ethicalties-kit.org/) is committed to ensuring that KIT’s collaborations with external partners are always in line with the principles of justice and international law. Against this background, it calls for an ethical and legal review of collaborations with Israeli research and teaching institutions, as many of them are known to have close ties to the Israeli military. In light of the human rights and international law violations by the Israeli military documented by the United Nations and independent human rights organizations, the initiative believes there is an urgent need to review whether these collaborations are still consistent with the ethical guidelines of KIT and may be continued.

Unfortunately, all of IEAT’s offers to initiate dialogue have been firmly ignored by the KIT Executive Board so far, making the recent conclusion of new cooperation agreements with the universities of Tel Aviv and Haifa on March 3 of this year by the President of KIT particularly worrisome (https://www.kit.edu/kit/english/pi_2025_014_helmholtz-and-kit-strengthen-ties-with-arab-and-israeli-partners.php). "For a German university committed to human rights and the values ​​of international law, it should be self-evident to carefully examine such cooperation agreements and promote a critical discussion of them within its own institution," emphasizes Dr. Simpson, a founding member of the IEAT.

The Executive Board’s unwillingness to address the issue raised by the IEAT is also reflected in the way they have tried to discredit the initiative with a series of inaccurate accusations and the prohibition of holding an event on KIT premises to discuss the connections between German academia on the one hand and the Israeli military and weapons industry on the other. The IEAT considers such actions to contradict the principle of “dealing with each other in partnership, truthfulness, and trust" enshrined in the ethical guidelines of KIT. “The impression arises that the attempt to discredit the IEAT from the outset and to refuse dialogue with it was also intended to shield the realization of new, highly questionable collaboration agreements from possible criticism so as not to jeopardize it.” says the spokesperson for the initiative.

The IEAT, whose KIT-internal open letter of October 2024 was signed by 148 KIT employees, will continue to work resolutely, despite the difficulties it faces, to end cooperation with research and teaching institutions involved in human rights and international law violations.