The ministry has disqualified a team from Ariel University Center of Samaria from the Solar Decathlon. Samaria and Judea are the two Biblical names for the land now known as the West Bank.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3781534,00.html
I know, I know. This is not anti-Semitism.
And the same thing would have happened to Arab students from a university in the West Bank or to Arab students from a university in Israel.
No, I somehow doubt the team would have been disqualified if they were Arab students.
(If they were Arab students, I am still opposed to the EU's decision. But I somehow doubt that the EU's goal was to target Arabs, even if by discriminating against Jewish organisations they are targeting all middle-eastern peoples. And who is to say that the EU won't target Arabs next when nobody stops the EU when they target Jews?)
A ministry official says Spain has acted in line with EU policy of opposing the settlements.
But would the EU make up a policy boycotting English students from a university in Northern Ireland, which another terrorist group considers "occupied territory"? Somehow I doubt it.
This brings up a really interesting question: What if the students were indeed Arabs, studying at a Jewish-founded university in "occupied territory"? And what about Hebrew University, the university Albert Einstein founded in Jerusalem. Is Jerusalem considered part of Israel?
Is Hebrew U considered part of Israel? Would the EU check whether the student is Jewish before they admit or dismiss his work? What about children of Jewish-Arab mixed couples? (And what about Arab Jews?) Which law would the EU use do determine whether a student is Jewish and/or Jewish enough to fall under the boycott?
The Israeli students wrote, "It's unfortunate that irrelevant, faulty political motives have led to the decision to remove the application. We condemn the blatant harm caused to academic freedom and ask you to help us act against this troublesome phenomenon."
The university, considered too Jewish by the EU authorities, has Jewish, Arab, Druze, and Circassian students from Israel and the territories:
When asked why he chose to study in Ariel, he responds, "I have Jewish friends, who work for the Israeli Electric Corporation, and some of them study here. They told me about the place. I was planning to study in Tel Aviv or Haifa, but it is more difficult to study and work at the same time there. I also heard the electronics department here is one of the finest in the country."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=590724
Despite the controversial politics of the area and hostility between settlers and Palestinians, more Arab students are studying at a college in the Jewish settlement of Ariel, 25 miles (40 km.) northeast of Tel Aviv. About 300 Arabs are enrolled at the College of Judea and Samaria, half from Israeli Arab towns and half from Palestinian territories.
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=128&view=item&idx=875
Call me a hopeless dreamer, but to me Jews and Arabs studying together is the best way to promote peace. European racism, on the other hand, is not helpful.