The latest boycott Israel effort seems to be coming from Italy where 168 academics and researchers have signed a petition calling to cut all cooperation with Israeli institutions of high learning, with direct mention of the Technion, Israel’s Institute of Technology, which is based in Haifa.

According to the Ynet report, the petition signed by the Italian academics follows the lead of 343 British academics who signed a petition calling to boycott Israeli universities as well. The Italian signatories are affiliated with seven different universities and their document alleges the Technion is involved in military research, assisting in the development of weapons used by the IDF to continue the occupation and “repress the Palestinian people”. The petition also alleges that the Technion cooperated with Raphael in the development of the Merkava IV tank.

The petition states the Technion played a direct role in the development of the Caterpillar D9 armored model used by the IDF to demolish Arab homes and to detect Hamas tunnels in the Israeli “siege on the Gaza Strip”. Also mentioned is Elbit Systems for its manufacture of drones used by the IDF which permit ongoing surveillance of the “Apartheid Wall”.

Persons signed to the petition announce they will no longer cooperate with their Israeli counterparts and they will be boycotting all future conferences hosted by Israel.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)