Academics blast Science Museum’s Israel Day

THE Science Museum was today accused of promoting Israeli universities whose research was used in the military campaign in Gaza.

More than 400 academics, a Nobel laureate and the former chairman of the Commons science select committee urged the museum to cancel workshops due to be held this week that showcase Israeli scientific achievements for children.

They accuse the London museum of promoting scientists and universities "complicit in the Israeli occupation and in the policies and weaponry recently deployed to such disastrous effect in Gaza", and vowed to picket the event if it goes ahead.

The Israel Day of Science seminars highlight the work of seven universities. Forty professors and politicians are among the signatories who want the workshops cancelled. They include Jonathan Rosenhead from the London School of Economics, who is leading the protest, Steven Rose from the Open University and architect and historian Charles Jencks.

The Zionist Federation is running the seminars at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry today and at the Science Museum on Thursday. The federation's chairman, Andrew Balcombe, said the events were educational and non-political.

The Science Museum said in a statement: "Scientists speaking at the event include a marine biologist, a physicist who works on experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland, a nanotechnology expert, a water scientist and a geneticist."