Boston, April 27 (RHC)-- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has severed ties with Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems after a six-month campaign spearheaded by the MIT Coalition for Palestine and the Boston branch of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

After six months of political campaign which included thousands of academics, activists, and students, the Coalition and BDS have succeeded in their goal.  The campaign included various types of non-violent protests including the disruption of Industrial Liaison Programs’ (ILP) conferences in Boston, Bangkok, Seoul, and Tokyo.

As a result, Elbit Systems will be removed from MIT’s ILP, a membership platform that connects corporations with MIT’s faculty experts, emerging technologies, and research labs.  “Let this be a message to all the merchants of death: You have been put on notice,” said the MIT Coalition for Palestine and the BDS movement.

Student organizers have called the move a victory for academic accountability and a rejection of partnerships with firms complicit in Israeli war crimes.

The MIT Coalition for Palestine is a collective of 17 faculty, staff, and student groups aligned toward the liberation of Palestine from the oppression of the Israeli regime.

BDS is a non-violent Palestinian-led movement that promotes boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel.

In a memorandum published in December 2024, the Collation and BDS said that MIT assisted Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza in two ways: “First, MIT laboratories on campus conduct weapons and surveillance research directly sponsored by the Israeli military,” it said.

“Second, MIT maintains institutional collaborations through the ILP, LGO, CSAIL, and MIT Energy Initiative programs with companies that sell vast amounts of weapons to Israel. These include Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest military contractor, as well as Maersk, Lockheed Martin, and Caterpillar,” it highlighted.

At the time, the Coalition and BDS declared that their goal was to force the university to stop all activities that helped Israel.

Elbit Systems Ltd. is the largest Israeli military manufacturer and produces 85% of the Israeli forces' land-based equipment as well as 85% of the drones used by the Israeli air force.

Its profit has increased significantly, driven by the demand from the Israeli forces during their ongoing war against Gaza and the Lebanese Resistance movement, Hezbollah.