THE influence of Israel on American universities is not a secret. Using an open access software, activists have already pointed out that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has so far accepted $11 million from the Israeli Ministry of Defence to enable students to come up with fresh ideas on how to improve the weapon system that can kill Palestinians more accurately.

This particular project has been going on since 2015. This was exposed by a group of MIT students, along with the names of all the researchers who had accepted this money. The only action the university has taken thus far is to shut down its own database.

The University of California at Santa Barbara’s Engineering and Sciences Centre features its ties with the defence contractor RTX Corporation as a ‘success story’ on its website. Besides, companies like Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Lockheed Martin are listed as corporate affiliates of several university programmes.

Today, American universities are spying on their students. Europe is not far behind in such abhorrent acts. The ideal thing to do for Muslims is to stop studying in Europe and the US. This tendency to have a white man’s degree to feel validated stems from being ruled by the white race.

Nobody expects the Muslim rulers to divest from countries that are enabling the ongoing genocide in Palestine, but, as individuals, we can make a difference.

We must surely seek knowledge, but if that knowledge comes at a mighty cost, it is, by any yardstick, just not worth it.

Angabeen Ahmad
Karachi

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2025