ANOTHER ONE: MIT anti-Israel activists form 'Scientists Against Genocide Encampment'

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge is the latest university in which students are protesting their school’s ties to Israel by establishing an encampment on campus.

According to MIT Ph.D. student activist Francesca Riccio-Ackerman via X, a group of students have created the “Scientists Against Genocide Encampment” on the university’s Kresge Lawn.

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Breaking: The students and workers of #MIT establish the Scientists Against Genocide Encampment on MIT’s Kresge Lawn

“MIT has received OVER $11 MILLION in research funding from the Ministry of Defense of Israel since 2015…. We will NOT REST until MIT cuts research ties with the… pic.twitter.com/phEb0pZCnF

— Francesca Riccio-Ackerman (@still_francesca) April 22, 2024

”We have let life go on, let business go on as usual, while a genocide has been broadcast to us for months,” a shared statement from Riccio-Ackerman’s X post reads. “Meanwhile, MIT has received OVER $11 MILLION in research funding from the Ministry of Defense of Israel since 2015. Multiple labs on this campus are performing are performing sponsored research for the material benefit of the Israeli Occupation Forces.”

”To MIT, we charge you in the brutal genocide of the Palestinian people for your explicit role in providing scientific and technological support for the Israeli Occupation Forces’ and their crimes,” the statement continues. 

The message notes that “We [students] are what makes MIT the place it is,” while maintaining that they will “NOT REST until MIT cuts research ties with the Israeli military.”

Apparently co-authored by various anti-Israel student organizations like the MIT Coalition against Apartheid, the shared statement praises the “solidarity encampments” at other schools like Columbia University and Yale University.

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According to the anti-Semitic watchdog Canary Mission, Riccio-Ackerman has “engaged in anti-Israel activism and demonized Israel during a war against Hamas terrorists in late 2023 and early 2024.”

Canary Mission notes that Riccio-Ackerman has participated in numerous anti-Israel protests in recent times. A supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Riccio-Ackerman posted to X in February to defend the MIT Coalition Against Apartheid’s opposition to the “MIT Israel Lockheed Martin program” because it is “directly tied to profiteers of war.” 

In a separate X post that same month, Riccio Ackerman wrote: “What Israel is doing to Palestinian civilians is unconscionable, so telling the truth matters now more than ever. After so many accusations and statements by the state of Israel were used to justify slaughter then later debunked or rescinded, it’s understandable that people are more keen than ever doubt the authenticity of IDF/ Israeli official statements.”