BRUSSELS. The European Union talks of principles. It passes resolutions condemning violence. It sanctions extremist settlers in the West Bank and calls for restraint. And while it does all of this, the money keeps moving. Billions of euros flow from EU institutions and member states into Israeli companies, some of which supply the very military machinery that has reduced Gaza to rubble. The numbers are not secret. They have been collected by Statewatch and published by Al Jazeera. They tell a story that official statements cannot obscure.
Since October 7, 2023, the EU has awarded Israeli institutions more than 238 million euros under the Horizon Europe research program alone. That is roughly $250 million in public money from European taxpayers, flowing to a country on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose leaders have been indicted by the International Criminal Court. The total since 2007 is more staggering still: over 2.6 billion euros in EU research funding has gone to Israeli organizations. This is not a trickle. It is a pipeline.
The Horizon Europe program is the EU’s flagship research and innovation scheme, a 107 billion euro framework meant to fund science for the common good. The rules say projects must be “exclusively focused on civil applications.” But the fine print allows “dual use” technology, a loophole wide enough to drive a tank through. Dual use means the same research that powers a medical imaging device can also calibrate a drone sight. It means the same artificial intelligence that maps crop yields can also track targets in a bombing campaign.
Consider Israel Aerospace Industries, or IAI. It is one of the country’s largest aerospace and defense contractors. It builds drones, missiles, and surveillance systems used by the Israeli military in Gaza and the West Bank. In July 2024, IAI received 640,000 euros from the Horizon Europe program for a project related to “autonomous systems.” That is the language of the funding application. The reality on the ground is written in blood.
Elbit Systems, another major military contractor supplying the Israeli army with drone technology and surveillance equipment, has also been a recipient of EU research funds. These are not anonymous startups. They are the industrial backbone of a military campaign that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed hospitals, universities, and residential neighborhoods, and displaced nearly two million people from their homes.
The hypocrisy is most acute in Spain. Madrid has been among Europe’s most vocal critics of Israel during the Gaza campaign. Spanish ministers have called for sanctions. The government has recognized the State of Palestine. And yet, between January 2022 and July 2025, Spanish public institutions signed 14 contracts worth almost 227 million euros with Israeli companies. That is $257 million flowing from a country that positions itself as a moral leader on this issue. The money went to technology firms, defense contractors, and companies operating in the occupied territories. Universities in Spain are also implicated, continuing to partner with Israeli institutions in research programs that skirt the edges of military application.
The pattern repeats across the continent. EU departments responsible for foreign policy, development, and innovation maintain procurement relationships with Israeli firms. The European Commission itself is a major customer. The argument from Brussels is always the same: these are commercial contracts, not political endorsements. The research is for civilian purposes. The partnerships are about science, not war.
The academics who study these programs disagree. More than 2,000 European academics and 45 civil society organizations have signed petitions demanding that the EU cut funding to Israeli institutions. Their argument is straightforward: the EU’s own guidelines prohibit funding that contributes to human rights abuses. The International Court of Justice found it “plausible” that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide. Continuing to write checks under those circumstances, the petitioners argue, makes the EU complicit.
In July 2025, the European Commission proposed partially suspending Israel from Horizon Europe over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The proposal cited the famine conditions, the collapse of the healthcare system, and Israel’s failure to meet aid delivery commitments. But the suspension was never fully enacted. Germany, a staunch supporter of Israel, opposed the measure. Italy wavered. The qualified majority needed to pass the vote was not secured. The pipeline remained open.
Meanwhile, the destruction continues. In May 2026 alone, Israeli forces carried out more than 40 attacks on Hamas and allied groups in Gaza, the highest monthly total since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025. Airstrikes targeted senior commanders. Israeli control in Gaza expanded from 53 percent to roughly 60 percent. Settler violence in the West Bank reached a new record high, with more than 380 violent incidents against Palestinians in a single month. And the European Union, which sanctions settlers with one hand, continues to fund their government’s military-industrial base with the other.
The numbers demand a reckoning. Israeli institutions have received over 2.6 billion euros in EU research funding since 2007. Horizon Europe alone has channeled more than 238 million euros since October 2023. Spanish institutions have signed nearly 227 million euros in contracts. The gap between what Europe says and what Europe does is measured in billions.
It is easy to pass a resolution. It is harder to cut a check, and hardest of all to stop.