DoomsdaysCW#MIT Professor Cancels #Israeli Military Grant After Student Pressure
“This concession shows that student campaigns do have an influence,” one student said. "These ties cannot survive transparency."
by Akela Lacy
September 22 2025, 9:09 a.m.
"#ProPalestine student #activists across the country have struggled to get their universities to respond to pressure for divestment from Israel and its military–industrial complex.
"So when a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology withdrew from a grant from the Israeli military after hearing feedback from students protesting the ongoing genocide in Gaza, it was especially welcome news.
" 'This is one of the only cases where we know that student activism and public pressure led directly to an Israeli tie being cut, let alone a collaboration with its genocidal military,' said Mila Halgren, a postdoctoral associate at MIT. (The university did not respond to a request for comment.)
"MIT has come under internal and public scrutiny for conducting research on #warfare technology sponsored by #Israel. In July, the United Nations condemned the school for conducting 'weapons and #surveillance research funded by the Israeli ministry of defense — the only foreign military financing research at the institute.'
"That research included projects on drone swarm control — technology which the Israeli military has used during its siege on #Gaza — pursuit algorithms, and #UnderwaterSurveillance.
"Markus Buehler, a professor in the civil engineering department, withdrew the grant earlier this summer shortly after a student pro-Palestine group publicized it on Instagram.
" 'This concession shows that student campaigns do have an influence,' Halgren said. 'It also shows that these ties cannot survive #transparency and #PublicAwareness. Student action is not meaningless; despite increased repression, it is more important than ever to resist #genocide.”
Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2025/09/22/mit-israeli-military-funding-grant-protests/
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/sO9UF
#ResistGenocide #IsraeliWarCrimes #FreePalestine #FreeGaza #Resistance
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