- Israeli Ministry of Defence funded over $15 million in US university research from 2004-2025
- Funding often unreported or inconsistently disclosed in US foreign funding databases
- Multiple universities including Columbia, Princeton, and MIT received grants linked to Israeli defense
Millions of dollars from Israel's Ministry of Defence and Israeli weapons companies have gone into the research at US universities, but much of this money does not consistently appear in US databases meant to track foreign funding, according to a Drop Site investigation.
An analysis of university and state audit records, foreign-funding disclosures and academic documents found more than $15 million in funding connected to Israel's Ministry of Defence and Israeli defence manufacturers either not reported or reported inconsistently, according to findings by Antiwar Initiative.
The records cover the period from 2004 to 2025 and show financial links between the Israeli defence establishment and dozens of US universities.
These include Columbia, Cornell, Princeton, Harvard, Northwestern, Georgia Tech, Texas Tech, the University of Connecticut, the University of Tennessee, the University of Maryland, the University of Florida, UC Berkeley, the University of Rhode Island, the University of New Mexico, Washington University in St. Louis and the State University of New York.
The funding was provided through research grants, contracts, tuition payments and other forms of support. In some cases, Israel's Ministry of Defence directly sponsored projects. In others, Israeli weapons companies such as Elbit Systems, Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries were involved.
One example comes from the University of Connecticut. State audit records show that a project called "Impact Point Prediction Research for Short & Medium Range Thrusting Projectiles" received $668,456 from Israel's Ministry of Defence over nine fiscal years between 2013 and 2023.
Another project at the university, titled "High Sensitivity SQUIDs for Magnetic Field Detection", received $251,336 during the same period.
At Columbia University, records show two Israeli Ministry of Defence-linked projects worth a combined $799,190. One project on 3D printing of integrated electromechanical systems received $469,999 between 2016 and 2021. Another project on sensor technology received $329,191 between 2021 and 2024.
The State University of New York's research foundation recorded five Israeli Ministry of Defence-linked projects worth $949,915 between 2010 and 2021. Florida's statewide audits also recorded $1.19 million in expenditures passed through Israel's Ministry of Defence between 2012 and 2021, although the records did not identify all the universities that received the money.
At the University of Texas at Dallas, researchers developed a video-surveillance system with funding from Elbit Systems of America. Researchers at the University of Maryland also received $150,000 for work on the autonomous operation of micro-helicopters and another $300,000 for research into rotorcraft flying at high speeds.
Princeton University records show a $600,000 contract for research into a "Pulsed Scalar Atomic Magnetometer", sponsored by Israel's Ministry of Defence and the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency.
At Texas Tech University, researchers received $400,000 from Israel's Ministry of Defence for work on a "Sealed Vircator HPM System". MIT itself has reported about $4 million in Israeli Ministry of Defence-linked projects between fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2024, along with another $290,000 in fiscal 2025.
"No self-respecting university should accept funding from Israel, given its destabilising, destructive, and inhumane use of US weapons," said William Hartung, a political scientist and expert on the US arms industry and Pentagon budgetary practices.
