Few EU initiatives embody the continent's ambition to be a knowledge powerhouse as clearly as Horizon Europe. With nearly €95 billion earmarked for 2021–2027, the programme brings together leading universities, researchers and tech firms under a simple promise: funding goes to the best science, not to the most politically convenient partners.
That principle has been under strain for over a year. In July 2025, the European Commission proposed excluding Israeli start-ups from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator, the arm that backs disruptive technologies such as AI, cybersecurity and drones. Israeli universities and researchers would have remained in other Horizon projects, but the move set a dangerous precedent: for the first time, the EU would have barred a high-performing partner from a core innovation instrument because of its government's actions.
The proposal has not secured a qualified majority in the Council. Germany and Italy called for deeper review, while several Central and Eastern European states rejected it outright. France, the Netherlands and Spain, however, felt it did not go far enough given the situation in Gaza. Spain and Ireland had already demanded a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement in 2024, and in summer 2025 Madrid pushed for suspending all joint programmes.
The proposal is now on hold, but it is far from dead. It resurfaces with every escalation in Gaza, and it hangs over the EU's negotiations for its next framework programme, FP10, which will shape research and innovation policy from 2028 to 2034. The terms for third-country participation are being decided now, and the political dispute over Israel is making that decision more urgent.
Sanctions against science protect no one
Criticism of the Israeli government is legitimate, and the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East should concern European policymakers. But excluding Israeli scientists and universities would not protect anyone from terrorism or improve living conditions anywhere. The damage to science, however, would be immediate and measurable—especially in Europe.
Within Horizon Europe, Israeli partners are not passive recipients of EU funds. They are integral members of multinational consortia that include European universities, research centres and companies. Between 2021 and 2024, Israeli institutions and businesses drew over €1 billion from Horizon Europe, while Israel contributed around €1.7 billion. The country is a net contributor, not a net beneficiary.
If Israeli partners were excluded, the impact would go far beyond a line in a Brussels spreadsheet. Consortia would lose technical expertise, intellectual property, test facilities, clinical data and access to one of the world's most dynamic start-up ecosystems. Projects would need to be reconstituted, work packages redistributed or abandoned. Institutes in Hamburg, Paris, Barcelona, Leuven or Warsaw would absorb the costs. Any European government calling for Israel's exclusion would be directly harming its own universities.
Europe's business sector would also suffer. In 2024, Israel was the third-largest recipient of EIC Accelerator funding, after Germany and France, receiving over €100 million for deep-tech start-ups. Israel invests more than 6% of its GDP in research and development—more than three times the EU average. Around 450 international companies, including Renault, SAP and Telefónica, maintain research centres there.
European and Israeli teams collaborate on personalised cancer therapies, water-saving agriculture, robotics, quantum technologies and resilient digital infrastructures. At the Technion, the Weizmann Institute and the Hebrew University, these partnerships produce not only academic papers but also patents, spin-offs and marketable applications—exactly the translation of science into innovation that Europe often struggles to achieve. Excluding Israel would not fix that structural weakness; it would make it worse.
The decision on FP10 is a pivotal one. If Europe wants to compete with the US and China in AI, biotech and quantum technology, it must secure Israel's full participation early on, rather than turning it into a bargaining chip every time tensions flare in the Middle East.
Governments in Dublin, Paris and Madrid should ask themselves not only what they might gain domestically from excluding Israel, but also what scientific and economic price their own universities and businesses would pay. FP10 must remain a programme based on excellence, not an instrument of shifting political majorities. Israel should remain an unrestricted part of the European Research Area from 2028 to 2034—in Europe's own interest and as an investment in the continent's future.
