Never fund theocracies. It doesn't matter what religion, don't fund theocracies. In any way. Ever.
this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2025
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lmao you think it's because of religion.
Yeah nothing to do with the fact some countries are making bank selling them drones and white phosphorus and shit
Israel is a leading producer and exporter of drones themselves. I don’t think they import many.
Israel is not a theocracy; it's an ethnostate.
It is officially a theocracy. Citizenship is given based on religion, rather than ethnicity
In 1970, the right of entry and settlement was extended to people with at least one Jewish grandparent and a person who is married to a Jew, whether or not they are considered Jewish under Orthodox interpretations of Jewish law.
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Return
Practicing Judaism as a religion is basically irrelevant to whether one is legally considered a Jew in Israel. I mean hell, 20% of Israeli Jews don't believe in a deity yet get all the perks one gets due to being a Jewish citizen of Israel. See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion_in_Israel
Depressing that it's only 20%. (I'm in those 20%)
Most countries in Europe are ethnostates.
On paper yes, but in the real world not really. The far right is trying to change that and I think we can all agree those guys suck.
I won't comment on the obviously partial title (OP's title, not the linked article's) and on the fact that the article's analyzes the investments done since 2021 (ie. when Israel didn't kill people willy-nilly, not as much as it does now at least), but I would love to know why on earth the UK and (especially) Israel are included in the program.
I mean, the EIC Accelerator funds come from the EU (IIUC - does Israel actually contribute?)... even if one were to ignore the ongoing mass extermination of Gazaui, why would an EU institution invest in Israel?
[Edit: all is clear now, see my other reply]
Speaking from Israel, I'm just as confused as you are. My best guess: Israel's reputation (before the war) as a "Start-Up Nation" was well earned, a lot of technology and innovation was happening here. Arguably still is (hard to tell with all the war stuff). So generally it made sense to invest in Israeli startups simply to advance technology in general.
But this is obviously an EU-centric program. All other countries listed are EU. So it's still weird.
Because they invest in weaponry and surveillance tech. It's the laboratory.
From the article linked by OP:
Weapons aren't really part of this.
The program is said to be for Civilian purposes only, but a lot of these aspects fall under "dual use" and it is enough to "state" a Civilian purpose. In the context of Israel we know the government and affiliated institutions to be notorious liars.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/18/eu-horizon-funding-israel
Data collected by the European Commission and analysed by Al Jazeera shows that since October 7, the EU has awarded Israeli institutions more than 238 million euros ($250m), including 640,000 euros ($674,000) to Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), a top aerospace and aviation manufacturer supplying the Israeli army.
While guidelines regulating the Horizon framework require funded projects to be “exclusively focused on civil applications”, they acknowledge that a “considerable number of technologies and products are generic and can address the needs of both civil and military users”.
Technology that can serve both civil and military uses – so-called “dual use” – may qualify for EU funding as long as the stated objective is civil.
Manufacturing, Digital, Space Tech and Robotics are strong candidates for military technology. In particular Digital probably contains "cyber"-security which means both offense and defense capabilities for military uses, AI for mass surveillance by the police can be used for surveillance and targeting of "hostile" Civilians in a military context. Space Tech probably contains technology usable for spy satellites and missile systems. Robotics probably contains controls and technology usable for military surveillance and combat drones. As for manufacturing, high-tech military equipment relies on high-tech production systems.
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I don't know the products involved in these programs as the article doesn't mention anything about that, but the vast majority of Israel's surveillance tech and related policies doesn't come from Europe but from China:
How Chinese firm linked to repression of Uyghurs aids Israeli surveillance in West Bank Cameras made by Hikvision [...] blanket the occupied West Bank.
Mass Surveillance Fuels Oppression of Uyghurs and Palestinians Israel, Like China, Has Weaponized Surveillance Technology to Suppress Peaceful Dissent
Even 'leftist' magazines have been reporting on the relationship between Chinese Surveillance and Israeli Settler Colonialism.
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Okay, I found the answer:
https://eic.ec.europa.eu/eic-funding-opportunities/eic-accelerator_en
Who can apply?
Applicants from EU Member States and countries associated to the Horizon Europe programme:
...
For Horizon Europe, the easiest list to find is on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon_Europe
In short, Israel is part of the program.
Yeah, Israel and UK contribute to the Horizon Europe's budget, and are fully eligible to the grants under the program.
The program is managed by the European Commission. Thus, in theory, the countries outside the EU pay but have no influence on the decision-making bodies. This can be a big disadvantage in more politically loaded processes. I suspect (from my experience with the ERC) that the selection process under Horizon Europe is build very much to focus on evaluating each project separately, not providing equity by country. Israel and the UK get a lot of funds since from there come project that, if not good, are at the very least popular. Or rather: That the decision boards, usually filled with specialists from the respective fields, find to have the highest feasibility times impact (figuratively, as, to the best of my knowledge, no such value is calculated).
I see no conspiracy or a bypass to support Israel with extra money here. They were just good at writing grant proposal (or however you call it in the startup world), and they were allowed to be a part of EU's research program as they have always been.
They benefit from it nevertheless. And it is high time to end the collaboration. It is already being discussed. And it is good to know it would hurt indeed - thanks for the research, OP's sources!
https://efe.com/en/latest-news/2025-07-28/eu-suspension-israels-horizon-europe-gaza-attacks/
AFAIK the funding ultimately comes out of the Horizon Europe pot of which Israel is a fully paid up associated member. I also wonder how they're defining which country a given grant goes to - lots of Israeli headquartered companies have extensive operations in EU countries.
Wait, is Israel in the EU?
No, but this is not strictly an EU program. The UK and Norway both received funding, and there are heaps of other non-EU countries like Tunisia, Egypt, and Canada in it
Neither of those bombs civilians.
I didn't say anything about whether Israel deserves funding or not. Athough of note is that this program is not for governments, so it is not going to the Israeli government
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If you read the stats and you come up with such an (edited) title, it is clear that OP has an agenda. This is not about information or instigating a discussion because they are interesting in something, it's just to spread someone's propaganda.
What are you talking about, an agenda? I presented the link and the graph and gave the post a title as to what stood out the most to me.
I didn't include the UK because I thought that the UK had still been in the EU in 2021 (I misremembered that Brexit was November 2021 and not 2020) - Regardless, UK is in Europe. Israel is not, and never has been to my knowledge.
Regardless, UK is in Europe. Israel is not, and never has been to my knowledge.
So?
The data you've shown here is about the EIC (European Innovation Council), which is funded by Horizon Europe, in which, despite its name, also non-European countries can be (associated) members of. This includes Israel, but also Turkey, Canada or Tunisia, i.a.. Those members obviously also have to pay into it.
As an european I don't want my name associated with genocidal regime, especially when those regime develop surveillance technologies and drones that one day might be used on civilians population here.
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An important detail that others have already said is that the EU collaborates with a lot of non-EU and also with non-European countries. Here is a list of the EU's Science and Technology Agreements with non-EU countries.
It has also been said that these countries must contribute financially for the projects they apply, another point that is important in this context that you didn't mention.
What 'stood out most' to you and the way you represented it is a detail out of context that ends up in an article reflecting a completely distorted reality.
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