Researchers around the world are fleeing Israeli universities

Data from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics revealed a severe crisis afflicting the academy and its various scientific studies institutes, due to the widening rift resulting from Israeli practices in the Gaza Strip.

It is clear that the number of foreign post-doctoral researchers decreased by 10.1 percent in 2024, then by 11.6 percent in 2025, that is, by about 20.5 percent in two years, and the number of Israeli researchers received by various universities in the world also decreased. The communications included cancellation of invitations to participate in conferences, withdrawal of researchers from joint projects, and suspension of institutional relations.

A report published by journalist Zvi Zerhaya, in the Calcalist newspaper, under the title “Foreign Researchers Disengage from Israel,” stated that the phenomenon of boycott of Israel has not yet been studied in depth to determine its causes, but it is clear that it began before October 7, 2023, and then worsened widely after this date. Therefore, logic says that the reason falls within the framework of the sanctions that Israel is subjected to because of the pictures published in the world about what is happening in Gaza.

According to the report, the number of postdoctoral researchers in 8 Israeli universities reached 3,115 in 2025, and less than half of them were foreigners. They came from 73 countries, and those coming from India constituted about 52 percent of them, followed by China with 8.9 percent, then Germany with 6.1 percent, the United States with 3.7 percent, Italy with 3.4 percent, and France with 2.9 percent.

The Hebrew University topped the academic institutions hosting these researchers, with a share of 24.7 percent of the total researchers, followed by the Weizmann Institute with 16.4 percent, then Ben Gurion University with 13.9 percent, while the share of Tel Aviv University and the Technion each reached 11.7 percent. At the Weizmann Institute specifically, foreigners made up 58.3 percent of postdoctoral researchers.

The impact of the decline in the number of foreign postdoctoral researchers varies from one academic institution to another, depending on the extent of its reliance on them. At the Weizmann Institute, foreign researchers represented 58.3 percent of researchers at this stage in 2025; Therefore, a decline in the ability to attract them may make it difficult for the institute to form new research teams or fill vacancies in existing teams in the future.

In a monitoring by the Calcalist economic newspaper, it was stated that the Belgian University of Ghent, for example, decided to stop institutional cooperation with specific Israeli parties, after reviewing its links with the government, the army, and the security services. The decision included 12 research coalitions within the European “Horizon” program, and an educational project within the “Erasmus+” program. Then the university announced its complete withdrawal from the Austeunit project. In the Netherlands, the University of Amsterdam froze its new cooperation with Israeli partners within the “Horizon” program, and then expanded its decision to include new institutional partnerships, while keeping individual cooperation possible. It interpreted its decision as a protest against the complete destruction of 22 out of 38 higher education campuses in Gaza, and 14 other campuses were damaged to varying degrees.

Israeli researchers reported cases in which their research papers were rejected in scientific journals, and their doubts about the impartiality of scientific arbitration increased. In a survey that included 739 faculty members, conducted by the Young Israeli Academy and the AFIC Forum in May 2025, and the results of which were published in April 2026, the number of research papers that participants said they had submitted for publication decreased by about 25 percent compared to the year before the war.

Another monitoring by the Calcalist newspaper showed that the number of European Research Council grants allocated to researchers at the beginning of their academic career, at host institutions in Israel, fell from about 30 grants in 2024 to 10 grants in 2025, then it reached 11 grants in 2026. The controversy moved this November to the conditions for participation in the next session of the “Horizon” program, scheduled for the period 2028 - 2034.

According to Calcalist, left-wing blocs in the European Parliament pushed for the inclusion of a clause allowing the exclusion of countries proven to have violated the Genocide Convention, which could lead to preventing Israeli participation.

Syria lifted restrictions that it had imposed briefly this week on the entry of Americans, according to what the Director of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation at the General Authority of Ports and Customs, Mazen Alloush, told Agence France-Presse on Friday.

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's rule, in late December 2024, Syria has allowed foreigners to enter its territory without a prior entry visa. They can obtain it upon arrival at land border crossings and the airport.

But a few days ago, Americans complained on social media that they were denied entry, on the grounds that they needed to obtain a visa in advance.

Alloush explained that “the procedures related to the entry of American citizens into the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic have returned to what they were previously, after canceling the requirement to obtain prior approval, which had been temporarily imposed by the Ministry of the Interior.” He stressed that “there has been no change in the entry procedures for citizens of other countries, and they continue in accordance with the previously established instructions.”

During the first half of 2026, Syria received 719,000 foreign tourists and 664,000 tourists from Arab countries, according to the Ministry of Tourism. This number represents a significant increase compared to the same period in 2025, during which the arrival of 131,000 non-Arab foreign visitors was recorded.

This reflects the return of stability to the country after a 14-year war, while the first months following the overthrow of Assad witnessed violence. During the war, Syria experienced almost complete international isolation, but gradually, international flights began to resume from Damascus Airport.