DoomsdaysCW<p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MIT" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MIT</span></a> Professor Cancels <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Israeli" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Israeli</span></a> Military Grant After Student Pressure</p><p>“This concession shows that student campaigns do have an influence,” one student said. "These ties cannot survive transparency." </p><p>by Akela Lacy<br>September 22 2025, 9:09 a.m.</p><p>"<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ProPalestine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ProPalestine</span></a> student <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/activists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>activists</span></a> across the country have struggled to get their universities to respond to pressure for divestment from Israel and its military–industrial complex. </p><p>"So when a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology withdrew from a grant from the Israeli military after hearing feedback from students protesting the ongoing genocide in Gaza, it was especially welcome news.</p><p>" 'This is one of the only cases where we know that student activism and public pressure led directly to an Israeli tie being cut, let alone a collaboration with its genocidal military,' said Mila Halgren, a postdoctoral associate at MIT. (The university did not respond to a request for comment.)</p><p>"MIT has come under internal and public scrutiny for conducting research on <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/warfare" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>warfare</span></a> technology sponsored by <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Israel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Israel</span></a>. In July, the United Nations condemned the school for conducting 'weapons and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/surveillance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>surveillance</span></a> research funded by the Israeli ministry of defense — the only foreign military financing research at the institute.'</p><p>"That research included projects on drone swarm control — technology which the Israeli military has used during its siege on <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Gaza" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Gaza</span></a> — pursuit algorithms, and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/UnderwaterSurveillance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>UnderwaterSurveillance</span></a>.</p><p>"Markus Buehler, a professor in the civil engineering department, withdrew the grant earlier this summer shortly after a student pro-Palestine group publicized it on Instagram. </p><p>" 'This concession shows that student campaigns do have an influence,' Halgren said. 'It also shows that these ties cannot survive <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/transparency" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>transparency</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PublicAwareness" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PublicAwareness</span></a>. Student action is not meaningless; despite increased repression, it is more important than ever to resist <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/genocide" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>genocide</span></a>.”</p><p>Read more:<br><a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/22/mit-israeli-military-funding-grant-protests/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">theintercept.com/2025/09/22/mi</span><span class="invisible">t-israeli-military-funding-grant-protests/</span></a></p><p>Archived version:<br><a href="https://archive.ph/sO9UF" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">archive.ph/sO9UF</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ResistGenocide" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ResistGenocide</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IsraeliWarCrimes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>IsraeliWarCrimes</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FreePalestine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FreePalestine</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FreeGaza" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FreeGaza</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Resistance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Resistance</span></a></p>