How Israel’s Strikes on Iranian Universities Reflect Global Militarised Knowledge Suppression

Indigenous and traditional knowledge systems often frame education as a communal right rather than a state-controlled resource, prioritising oral traditions, land-based learning, and collective survival over militarised research. In Iran, pre-Islamic educational models (e.g., *madrasas* under the Achaemenid Empire) emphasised holistic development, contrasting with the modern Western university’s entanglement with state violence. Such systems view the destruction of universities as an attack on cultural continuity, not just infrastructure.

The destruction of universities as a tactic of war dates back to antiquity, from Alexander the Great’s burning of Persepolis (330 BCE) to the 1940 Nazi attack on the University of Oslo. In the 20th century, Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon targeted the American University of Beirut, and NATO’s 1999 bombing of Serbia destroyed the University of Belgrade’s library. These patterns reveal a colonial logic where knowledge centres in enemy states are treated as legitimate targets, while allied institutions (e.g., U.S. universities with military contracts) are shielded from scrutiny.

In Latin America, universities like the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) have historically been sites of anti-imperialist resistance, with students and faculty targeted during the 'Dirty Wars' of the 1970s-80s. Similarly, in South Africa, apartheid-era raids on the University of the Western Cape aimed to suppress Black intellectual sovereignty. These cases show how academic destruction is a tool of political control, not just military strategy. The framing of Iranian universities as 'military-adjacent' mirrors how Western media labels Palestinian or Venezuelan institutions as 'terrorist-linked' to justify attacks.

Peer-reviewed studies confirm that attacks on higher education institutions have long-term effects on a country’s scientific output and human capital. A 2020 *Nature* analysis found that conflicts in Syria and Yemen reduced their countries’ research output by 60-70%, with impacts lasting decades. The destruction of labs, libraries, and faculty also disrupts international collaborations, as seen in Iran’s exclusion from global research networks due to sanctions and geopolitical isolation. Such attacks violate the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, which explicitly protects educational institutions.

Artists and spiritual leaders in Iran have long used universities as spaces for dissent and cultural preservation. For example, the 2009 Green Movement saw students at Tehran University transform campuses into sites of artistic protest, blending poetry, music, and calligraphy to resist state violence. Similarly, Sufi and Baha’i communities have historically used education as a form of spiritual resistance against persecution. The destruction of these spaces is not just material but a desecration of sacred sites of learning and creativity.

If current trends continue, the global academic landscape may fragment into 'safe' (Western-allied) and 'targeted' (Global South) institutions, exacerbating knowledge apartheid. Scenario modelling suggests that by 2035, conflicts could displace 20% of the world’s researchers, with 80% of those from the Global South. This would accelerate brain drain, deepen inequities in STEM fields, and normalise the militarisation of education as a geopolitical tool. Alternative futures require decolonising knowledge systems and treating universities as neutral zones of intellectual exchange.

Marginalised voices—particularly Iranian students, Palestinian academics, and Global South scholars—are systematically excluded from Western media narratives, which frame them as either 'victims' or 'threats.' Iranian academics, for instance, have documented how sanctions prevent them from accessing research materials, yet this is rarely linked to Israel’s strikes as part of a broader strategy of knowledge suppression. Similarly, Palestinian universities like Birzeit have been repeatedly targeted by Israel, with little Western outrage compared to attacks on Western institutions.