Science and knowledge are universal human achievements and endeavours, the results of which belong to mankind as a whole. The international scientific community has long cherished and upheld its values of neutrality, objectivity and universality. Scientific, research and other educational institutions, be it in Europe or elsewhere, are therefore rightfully focused on their stated goals of promoting knowledge and science, which, in theory, lie outside political debates.

In recent years and months, however, a most disturbing double standards has surfaced across the scientific spectrum: the oft-called “Palestine exception”. While research institutions have, at different times of history, not shied from taking political stances, including condemning invasions (Russia in Ukraine, e.g.) or despicable terrorist attacks on civilians, they have remained conspicuously silent on the unfolding genocide in Gaza. Why such double standards?

The genocide is no longer in doubt. Multiple UN organisms or Special Rapporteurs have qualified it as such, as have numerous human rights NGOs, including in Israel itself, and leading scholars on genocide. The ICC has charged B. Netanyahu and Y. Gallant with crimes against humanity. A man-made famine is under way in Gaza before the eyes of the world, and the Israeli government has openly announced its intention of invading and occupying the Gaza strip, in contradiction to every legal, moral or political principle.

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