A Rebuttal- Villainizing Indo-Israel Academic Collaborations is Not Only Unnecessary, It Is Simply Wrong

Authors: Sugandh Ojha & Sameer Sharma Guduru

David Ben Gurion, first Prime Minister of the State of Israel, told his colleagues against the backdrop of Arab revolution 1936-1939 “On the security front we those attacked and who are on the defensive. But in the political field, we are the attackers and Arabs are those defending themselves”. The statement is rather true whenever the Israel-Palestine issue is discussed and this article deals with a similar situation which is an attempt to rebut Marcy Newman’s one of the articles Indian Institutes Working With Israeli Counterparts Also Help Oppress Palestine.

“Correlation does not imply causation” is the expression that came to mind on reading the article by Ms. Newman for The Wire. It is rather ironic that as an academic, instead of taking a nuanced stance Ms Newman went all guns blazing against how the Indian universities collaborating with Israeli counterparts result in oppressing Palestine. At the very outset, Ms Newman, in my humble opinion has not taken any stance whatsoever on the religious fundamentalist approach to education in the form of Madrassas and how such institutions have resulted in terror activities. 

It is rather unfortunate that western critics of India can be accused of “bigotry of lower expectations”. On the one hand, these are the same people who preach humanity ad nauseam on the importance of acceptance and tolerance, while on the other, they themselves can be accused of perpetrating the same at the intellectual level. While the behaviour of folks in an independent, pluralistic, democratic society like India is governed by individual or institutional choices, the same seems to be somehow alien to some of the western authors. This bigotry and “liberal dogma” has not only given rise to the consolidation of the conservative mindsets world over but also has ushered in a polarization of the common populace. What is however frustratingly calamitous is that it happens fairly regularly, under complete ignorance and an absolute lack of realization of the naivety at the display. 

First, it is truly appreciable that Ms Newman decided to impart education in jeopardizing circumstances in the areas of Abu Dis (Area C) and Nablus (Area A). As per the Oslo Accords II, Area A is under full control of Palestinian government, however, Area C is under Israeli control. Ms Newman has undoubtedly addressed some major issues however driven by emotion, she disdains the historic perspective and ground realities, hence fails to bring a nuanced perspective being an academician. 

As she mentions about ‘Israel occupied West Bank’, she overlooks the history from the lens of politics and security; the Jews attacked by three Arab armies had no other alternatives than to defend themselves with their complete might and prevent the enemies from further aggression. the refugees of Aqraba or say Palestine is not something that Israel deliberately planned. She has to look at the map and analyze first how a small chunk of land is surrounded by Arab enemies to conclude who is threatened the most. The international media that tends to show news from a humanitarian perspective often fails to show the reason Israeli military ‘invades’ the houses in those areas and arrests them. If Ms Newman never read about the security concerns and the increase in terrorism in the region, here is an astonishing fact an academician must know “the average age of the new terrorists was 16 to 20, compared with 23 to 27 in earlier periods. The participation of women, mostly young and from difficult family backgrounds, also increased substantially.” How Israel Stopped a Third Palestinian Intifada gives enough intelligence reports’ briefing that clarifies the proliferation in the number of lone wolves especially young. Apart from the Israeli intelligence reports, news media The Atlanta also covered how Hamas has been using residential areas, schools & hospitals as shelters and launching grounds for their rockets, empathy often snubs rationality though.  

Israel is known for startups also referred to as a Startup Nation & Silicon Wadi, a country that opened its market after its brief camaraderie with socialism, the country is developing in all ways possible. It shouldn’t be astonishing if Israel expands itself to lure students to become a better academic space and hub for multicultural research ideas. When Ms Newman presents a very biased and antisemitic idea that how Israel intervenes in India by hacking WhatsApp, she probably did not know about the other technology Israel offers to India and World, a desalination plant to name just one. While she could have seen Israel’s Council for Higher Education (CHE)’s project as embracing the plurality of ideas and internationalization of higher education which further tends to propagate democracy according to scholars, her views become narrower and derogatory towards scholars who are working together in expanding Israel’s academic horizon. One of the persons from the admissions authority states “I will not deny that my goal is to "lure" as many international students as possible, because the thirst for knowledge and research has no national label. The contribution of generations of scientists and scholars to this world belongs to everyone in it, regardless of their culture and origin. Each and every one of the students coming through the campus gates has the will to learn and evolve, any one of them could be the next Einstein or Darwin. As a student of history and culture, I learned nothing if not the fact that diversity creates prosperity. International students gathering in Israeli institutions should not be symbolized as an act of alleged espionage, but as a sign of hope for this world, that we can build bridges instead of destroying them.” 

Unlike Israeli universities, the institutes in Palestine are known for propagating Islamic political ideology, sheltering Hamas terrorists and laboratories for their weapons. Hebron University and other institutes in Palestine are the grounds where Hamas infilters young minds with its extremist views. Also, the Palestinian university called Birzeit, has been suspected for a long time of producing militant Islamist sentiment. It’s essential that Ms Marcy reads Hamas Charter before she seems favourable to the organization even in her another article; Hamas explicitly propagates Islamic ideology stating Palestine is an Islamic Waqf without recognizing Israel as a separate state. It is very recent that Hamas agreed to negotiate if Israel retreats to pre-1967 borders but does not affiliate to the idea of peace agreements as they do not recognize international organizations capable enough of resolving the issue. Hence, Ms Marcy’s appreciation of the Jamia Milia Islamia (JMI) as they collaborate with Hamas’ sheltering universities elusively shows her dubiety in the idea of peace negotiations. 

We wonder if Ms Marcy knows the technological progress of both the countries when she mentions Israel’s collaboration with IITs in suspicion, seems the author doesn’t want to acknowledge the development on the fronts of computer science, tech-based agriculture, aerospace and other important areas that are giving both the countries scopes to explore the use of technology for being resource independent. In the field of biotechnology and medical science, even Israel & India have started working hand in hand to develop new vaccines and medicines, not to forget a few Israeli organizations are working to provide medical facilities in Palestine where the amenities severely lack. If an academician can ignore such facts, discussing what India is doing in Kashmir would need a separate article and it is pointless to clarify the statement where she says India is modelling Israel’s action in Kashmir. 

Technion has played a leading role in fostering Israel’s “Start-Up Nation” economy apart from supporting weapon manufacturing. It is rather very blatantly put by the author snubbing the idea that every country has a defence budget and right to develop/manufacture or purchase their weapons/ army equipment, unlike Hamas which gets its funding through Iran’s IRGC to attack Israel. Bloomberg has ranked Technion 7th for producing CEOs of American tech companies and 18th in the field of computer science. The Tel Aviv University, responsible for creating the Dahiya Doctrine, is the same institute where numbers of Arab students rose to 78% in 7 years and the CHE even developed a five-year plan, with a budget of $294 million to increase Bedouin community’s enrollment rates by 75% who were unrepresented. The Dahiya Doctrine that killed many Lebanese was a response by IDF to the Hezbollah’s attacks along its Lebanon-Israel border about which the author fails to explain in her incautious and blatant piece. The Palestinians were offered practically 100% of the territory of Gaza and the West Bank, with territorial swaps, and the partition of Jerusalem, but refused to give up on the idea of return, which will mean the end of Israel. Indeed, they never gave up on their dream to see Israel gone. It is this national illusion that is the cause of their continued plight. 

It is rather ludicrous and intellectually dishonest, to put it mildly, in drawing a parallel between Israel’s “demographic bomb” policies and India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The CAA is merely an amendment to hasten the process of offering citizenship to persecuted minority communities including Sikhs, Christians who fled Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh before 2014. The normal process of naturalization of refugees including Muslims from any part of the world still applies and there have been no amendments in that made whatsoever. Moreover, India, a country with a population of 1.4 billion with a majority of young people, has to come up with policies that flatten the curve of the rate of its increase keeping in mind issues such as strain on its resources and rapid urbanization which are likely to get exacerbated by climate change. Regarding Ms. Newman’s point on Indian students accessing facilities at Ben Gurion University and its connections with Israel, either she does not understand the threats in India’s neighborhood despite living here for a long time or willfully ignores any such concerns. 

It is interesting also to note that Ms Marcy is a member of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI); The Wire, which cared to publish such a biased piece, didn’t give space to a rejoinder by Dr Khinvraj Jangid, Associate Professor & Director, Jindal Centre for Israel Studies. He says: “It is legit to say it is a symbolic protest but, academically speaking, it serves no purpose when it comes to fathom the intricate nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Indian academia is diverse and those who call for the academic boycott have a valid point-of-view but those who collaborate also have their own point of views and they are valid too. It is unfair to assume that they are less academic, morally committed or the worst paid-of as Newman alludes. Her view undermines the independent and critical minds of the Indian students who go to Israel as a result of collaborations. They are not gullible and do not return as the supporters of Israel.”

In conclusion, it is important for Ms. Newman being an academic to have an objective and an unbiased assessment of the ground realities and a historical perspective. As stated by her, if she does not understand why Indian universities are partnering with Israeli ones, she fails to understand the plurality of India and its democracy. It is essential for her to read the areas of collaboration between the two countries before she alleges this collaboration as a producer of weapons of occupation and colonisation. There is no need for Indian universities to follow JMI’s footsteps by collaborating with institutes that covertly creates terrorists and refuses to recognize Israel as a separate state. 

While she is empathetic towards one religious community, she ignores the tumultuous nature of the persecution of both the Jewish and the Hindu communities at the hands of Christians in Europe and Muslims in the Indian subcontinent. Such conflicts that have existed for millennia now will not disappear overnight. It is important to realize that human rights apply on both sides and a selective application of the same breeds dishonesty and skewed narratives thereby leading to further disharmony among communities than bridging them. 

Originally published on The Tilak Chronicles : Villainizing Indo-Israel Academic Collaborations is Not Only Unnecessary, It Is Simply Wrong: A Rebuttal