Dear all,
Yesterday, MIT president Sally Kornbluth told you a series of lies and distortions. She offered a “defense” of Computer Science and AI Lab director Daniela Rus, claiming that she faces “repeated and willful mischaracterizations” of her research, which is “fundamental” and “not designed for conflict”.
In fact, Daniela Rus’ research sponsored by the Israeli government does have obvious applications to armed actors. She’s proud about that and attends arms industry conferences to promote it. Here are selections from three of Daniela Rus’s papers funded by the Israeli military:
Another Daniela Rus project funded by the Israeli military, “Least-Mean-Squares Coresets for Infinite Streams”, is co-authored by people with connections to Elbit Systems, which is Israel’s largest military technology company by market capitalization and revenue. Elbit makes 85% of the Israeli military’s drone arsenal. Co-authors include Adiel Statman, AI algorithms engineer at Elbit Systems. Her other collaborator Dan Feldman at the University of Haifa presented their algorithm research to Elbit Systems. As the director of MIT’s Computer Science and AI laboratory (CSAIL), Daniela Rus also oversees CSAIL’s ‘Alliance’ partnership with the state-owned weapons giant Israeli Aerospace Industries, which makes drones, combat aircraft, missiles, armed bulldozers, and bombs used to carry out genocide in Gaza.
MIT President Sally Kornbluth then went on to say, “Those protesting her work are calling on MIT to terminate funding for a research project she led with the University of Haifa.” Here Sally is making it seem like students are upset at the University of Haifa. In fact, as U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese wrote in her recent report, “At MIT, labs conduct weapons and surveillance research funded by the Israeli Ministry of Defense [IMOD]– the only foreign military financing MIT research.” You can see this for yourself in MIT’s own audit reports. The MIT Coalition for Palestine, which represents more than a dozen student groups, wrote in Mondoweiss in December 2024, “We call on Daniela Rus to immediately terminate all IMOD-funded projects and for MIT to provide transitional funding to all affected graduate students, in line with how MIT terminated financial ties with the Skoltech Institute in Russia the day after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
Sally then went on to say “the [Israeli military] grant in question had a fixed four-year timeline and ended as planned – and unrelated to any pressure – in November 2024.” But the truth is Rus’ grant is one of many sponsored by the Israeli military, across several labs. At least 3 are current, and new proposals are accepted on a rolling basis. You can see a list here. If Daniela Rus has decided to no longer work with the Israeli military, prove it and publicly pledge to not work with them again. Instead, MIT is trying to conceal its ties by shutting down access to its Reports on Sponsored Research, which track the flow of external research funding. Students used to be able to access them for years 2020-2024. Now, they are supposedly available at MIT libraries, but only up to 2004.
MIT students aren’t stupid. We know that research projects sponsored by the Israeli military and co-authored by and presented to weapons companies at their conferences are designed for war. Even if it were non-military research like for climate or Alzheimer’s or whatever, taking money for any reason from a military committing genocide is wrong. Full stop. Large majorities of MIT students are demanding MIT cut ties with Israeli military and stand with Palestine solidarity activists, as confirmed by five separate votes in the UA, GSU, and GSC in 2024 and 2025. MIT has divested and ended international engagements over human rights concerns in Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Sudan, Vietnam, Taiwan & with Jeffrey Epstein. Divestment is real, possible, moral, and necessary.
That’s why we say: SALLY, STOP YOUR LIES: END TIES TO GENOCIDE IN GAZA. To learn more about this, read the MIT Coalition for Palestine’s research primer. Talk to us, and join the MIT Coalition for Palestine.
In solidarity,