It has been almost a year since a new partnership between UW and Technion was announced during a joint conference between the two universities’ presidents in Israel. Quantum information science, nanotechnology, and water were named as foci of this partnership. After signing the agreement, the UW president, Feridun Hamdullahpur, who told Jerusalem Post that he was “personally, and on behalf of [his] institution, proud to come to Israel” and that he found Technion “a natural partner.” Dr. Hamdullahpur added that Technion “represents all the values, vision, ambitions and commitment towards excellence that we share.” “I could not think of a better partner for such projects than the University of Waterloo,” Peretz Lavie, the president of Technion, had to say in return.
Established in 1912 the Haifa-based university is one of the top universities in Israel and is considered a major factor in the growth of Israel’s high-tech industry. Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is ranked among the world’s leading science and technology universities and boasts three Nobel Prize winners as part of its faculty. But, there is much more to Technion.
The development of Caterpillar D9 bulldozers used in demolition of homes and displacing Palestinians [1], the development of Rahfan, a micro-robotic helicopter used to observe and track civilians, an MBA program designed for the Israeli weapons company, Rafael, in which students are in some occasions directly involved in the development of complex weapons [2,3], and a special program to train R&D leaders for the Israeli army are documented accounts of Technion’s complicity in the occupation of Palestine and violations of human rights of Palestinians. “Technion has all but enlisted itself in the military,” Israeli researcher, Uri Yacobi Keller, has written in a 2009 report [4]. Technion has a policy of full cooperation with “homeland security” projects such as unmanned vehicles [5]. Job fairs at the Technion host weapon manufacturing companies [6]. Technion has also been criticized for its close ties with Elbit Systems [7], one of the biggest weapons research companies in Israel which is also heavily involved in development projects for the Israeli military. In 2009, Technion granted an honorary doctorate to the president of Elbit Systems [8].
In Tech Ethics we have been writing about some of the questions we should ask ourselves before working for a company or accept funding from a third party — or signing a research agreement, for that matter. Now, the question is whether Technion is really a “natural partner” for UW. With its long record of complicity in various human rights abuses, does Technion really represents “values, vision and ambitions” that we share? And if the answer to this last question is anything but a resounding negative, should we not rethink those “values, vision and ambitions” of ours? Once these questions are asked by the UW community, Technion should certainly “think of a better partner” than UW.
[1] Levav, Amos, 2003, “Specialists At The Technion Have Developed A Remoted Controlled D-9 Tracktor And A ‘Hammer’ Jeep,” “Technion Spokesperson,” October 19th, 2003, http://pard.technion.ac.il/archives/pressheb/html/PR_d-9_19_10.html.
[2] Technion Spokesperson, 2002, “12 Engineers Trained By The Technion And Accepted Into RAFAEL,” “Technion Spokesperson,” December 21st 2002, http://pard.technion.ac.il/archives/pressheb/html/PR_rafael_31_12l.html .
[3] Technion, 2009, “Ph.D And Ms.c Theses,” “Technion,” September 25th 2009, http://www.graduate.technion.ac.il/theses/Advisors.asp?Key=20270 .
[4] Keller, Uri Yacobi, 2009, “The Economy of the Occupation,” The Alternative Information Center.
[5] American Technion Society, 2008, “The Technion And Security,” Accessed September 2009, http://www.ats.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_security.
[6] Solomon, Idan, 2008, “The Demand For Technion Alumni Is Going Up: The January Employment Fair Is The Biggest of Its Kind,” The Marker, January 6th 2008, http://www.themarker.com/tmc/article.jhtml?log=tag&ElementId=is20080106_383810.
[7] Technion Spokesperson, 2006, “The Technion Trained 18 Engineers And Elbit Hired Them,” June 25th 2006, http://pard.technion.ac.il/archives/pressheb/html/PR_elbit_25_6.html.
[8] Solomon, Doron, 2009, “Honorary Ph.D To Th e President Of Elbit Systems,” Ynet, June 7th 2009, http://www.mynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3726384,00.html.
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