In relation to some journalistic reports that have appeared in recent days, according to which, among other things, the Scuola Normale has "communicated the decision to interrupt ongoing collaborations with Israeli universities regarding certain technologies" I would like to express some considerations.

The motion approved by a majority of the Academic Senate of the School on 26 March and made public on the web says quite the opposite: we are not interrupting any collaboration (at the moment, moreover, we do not have any structured ones: we had one, for example, a year ago), we are not boycotting , and we are not asking anyone to boycott. A motion aimed at interrupting scientific relations with Israeli universities, although presented in the Senate, was not even put to the vote.

Nor do we take a position in the motion regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, unless we want to consider as such the request, which we had already forcefully expressed in November, for the release of the hostages and a ceasefire, now the official position of the Italian Parliament and the UN Security Council.

The Normale is and remains open to collaboration with scholars and universities from all over the world. In the motion we refer to various study and discussion initiatives, including the recent allocation for research grants on topics relating to the study of the context and conflict of Israel and Palestine, for which we particularly hope for applications from both Israeli and Palestinian scholars.

In this historical moment we believe it is necessary and urgent to promote not only internal reflection, inspired by Article 11 of our Constitution, regarding the risk of so-called "dual use" - civil but potentially also military - of some scientific and technological research. It is from this perspective that we have asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to carefully reconsider the calls for cooperation with all foreign states which cover not only the strictly scientific area, but also the industrial and technological one, starting from the one issued in recent months in within the scope of the Italy-Israel agreements, in order to offer guarantees in this sense to the scholarly community, today and in the future.

I hope that this intervention of mine can clarify some misunderstandings that are characterizing the ongoing discussions, which are not always supported, as the delicacy of an inevitably divisive topic would require, by a complete and careful reading of the detailed motion approved by the Academic Senate of the Normale.

The Director of the Scuola Normale, Luigi Ambrosio
 

Pisa, 02 aprile 2024