Uruguay suspends agreement with Hebrew University, citing latest Gaza City occupation plan

The decision comes after just weeks of announcing the agreement between ANII and the university, which would have seen the opening of offices from the Uruguayan agency in Jerusalem.

Uruguay suspended the cooperation agreement between the National Research and Innovation Agency (ANII) and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, citing the latest Gaza operation and the decision to occupy Gaza City, according to Uruguayan media reports on Friday.

“We lament the decision of ‘freezing’ the agreement of cooperation between ANII and the Hebrew University,” said a statement by Israel’s Embassy in Uruguay. “Using political disagreements as an excuse to destroy scientific cooperation is always a misfortune.”

The decision comes just weeks after announcing the agreement between ANII and the university, which would have seen the opening of offices from the Uruguayan agency in Jerusalem.

“The office was never formally used, without any personnel in it until now,” said ANII president Alvaro Brunini to Uruguayan news outlet Telemundo.

“There were plans to start online courses soon, but they hadn’t started yet,” he added.

According to Brunini, the decision comes as a “pause” rather than a full-on cancellation of the project. “We understood that the best was to have a paused, reflective moment before continuing the process,” he stated.

Uruguay’s new left-wing government and its relationship with Israel

The decision also comes as the first main conflict between Uruguay’s new left-wing government and Israel, after almost five years of good relationships under the Luis Lacalle Pou right-wing administration.

Mario Lubetkin, Uruguay’s Foreign Minister, said to the newspaper Ámbito Uruguay that the decision was also made as a formal response to Israel’s new operations planned for Gaza City and the whole strip.

Uruguay’s Foreign Ministry also shared Lubetkin’s reasoning, explaining that the current government doesn’t desire to share common projects with the Israeli administration in a moment of high geopolitical tensions, reported Ámbito.

The decision comes after Uruguay’s condemnation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to occupy Gaza City and its support of the UN declaration asking for a peaceful solution to the war in the strip.

What was the ANII-Hebrew University agreement?

“The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Uruguay’s National Research and Innovation Agency (ANII) are launching Innovacion Uruguay, a new innovation and entrepreneurship office on the Edmond J. Safra Campus,” announced the university during the program’s launch.

“The Innovacion Uruguay office will serve as a central hub for fostering innovation, entrepreneurship, and collaboration,” said the official statement.

The university also expected that the office would serve as “a platform to strengthen ties between Uruguay and Jerusalem.”