UN Special Rapporteur accuses MIT and other leading universities of “partnering with Israeli institutions in areas directly harming Palestinians”
The report names MIT among institutions who “have continued to support, profit from and normalize an economy operating in genocidal mode”
COLIN CLARK -- THE TECH
On July 3, United Nations special rapporteur Francesca Albanese presented a report to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) detailing the involvement of international institutions, including MIT, in supporting the Israeli military throughout its 21-month operation in Gaza.
Special rapporteurs, who are independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, have a mandate to advise and report on specific circumstances. Albanese, an Italian legal scholar serving as special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories since 2022, warned of “mass ethnic cleansing” after Israel invaded Gaza following Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Last year, Albanese offered an expert opinion to the United Nations, stating that there were "reasonable grounds" to believe Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. She argued that Israel effectively labeled all Gazans and their infrastructure as terrorism-supporting, turning everything and everyone into legitimate targets.
Her report also includes a section on academic institutions, titled “Knowledge production and violation legitimization.” In this section, Albanese points to MIT, the Technical University of Munich, and the University of Edinburgh as examples of universities that “partner with Israeli institutions in areas directly harming Palestinians.” She asserts that partnerships with research bodies such as MIT have contributed to the development of automated weaponry and swarm flight for Israeli drones, which have become “omnipresent killing machines in the skies of Gaza.”
Albanese elaborates on MIT's connections to the Israeli military by describing how the Institute's labs “conduct weapons and surveillance research funded by the Israeli Ministry of Defense — the only foreign military financing research at the Institute.” She highlights projects on “drone swarm control — a distinct feature of the Israeli assault on Gaza since October 2023” as well as “pursuit algorithms and underwater surveillance.”
She also notes the Institute's management of a Lockheed Martin seed fund from 2019 to 2024 that facilitated student collaborations with Israeli teams. Furthermore, Albanese highlighted the fact that Elbit Systems, an Israeli military technology company and defense contractor, was a member of the Institute's Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) from 2017 to 2025, connecting the company to MIT research and personnel.
Albanese later recognizes “the vital work of students and staff in holding universities to account” and describes how their contribution “casts a new light on global crackdowns on campus protesters.” She then suggests that “shielding Israel and protecting institutional financial interests appears a more probable motivation than fighting alleged antisemitism.”
Her sources include “No More MIT Research for Israel’s Ministry of Defense,” which was published in MIT Faculty Newsletter by MIT Graduate Students for Palestine; “MIT Science For Genocide”, a document by the MIT Coalition for Palestine; and MIT’s 2023 Uniform Guidance Audit Report. For specific examples of research conducted with Institute labs, Albanese cites papers by Aerospace Engineering Professor Eyat Modiano and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Professor Daniela Rus, who is the director of MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).
Albanese's reports have faced strong criticism. Israel has denied allegations of genocide in Gaza — allegations which are currently under investigation by the International Criminal Court of Justice (ICC) and which have been supported by multiple scholars of genocide. The country maintains that its actions are conducted in justifiable self-defense in response to the October 7 attack, during which Hamas killed over 1,200 civilians and military personnel while taking another 251 more as hostages. Israel and the U.S. boycotted the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year, with Israel's Foreign Minister accusing the body of antisemitism.
“The United States once again expressed its grave concerns to UN Secretary-General António Guterres about the continued activities of Francesca Albanese," said the United States Mission to the United Nations in a statement. The Mission then called upon the Secretary-General to condemn Albanese’s actions and call for her dismissal, warning that failure to do so “would not only discredit the United Nations but would also require significant actions in response to Ms. Albanese’s misconduct.”
The statement claims Albanese has intensified her long-standing antisemitic and anti-Israel views by sending “threatening” letters to numerous international organizations and major American corporations. Her reports, they contend, present weak legal arguments for unsubstantiated accusations of gross human rights violations, apartheid, and genocide, amounting to an unacceptable attack on the American and global economies.
MIT spokesperson Kimberly Allen told The Tech in a statement that MIT faculty and researchers frequently collaborate with scientists and organizations abroad, including those in Israel, and always follow the required due diligence for international projects. “MIT strongly supports the principles of academic freedom that enable our faculty to engage with a wide array of partners in the pursuit of knowledge,” Allen wrote.
In a statement to The Tech, Coalition for Palestine (C4P) member and MIT postdoc Mila Halgren PhD ’25 said that Albanese’s report “confirms what MIT students of conscience have been saying for nearly two years.” C4P's statement called for MIT to immediately cut all ties with the Israeli military, including ending IMOD-funded research and relationships with companies like Maersk and Caterpillar. The statement also demanded a full apology and pardon from President Kornbluth and MIT Corporation Chair Mark Gorenberg ’76 for all students disciplined because of their pro-Palestine activism. “Because MIT is precedent-setting in its collaboration with an occupying force, we believe that MIT deserves a precedent-setting response,” Halgren said. “It is time for private institutions, even those in higher education, to be held to account.”