How Israel’s Strikes on Iranian Universities Reflect Global Militarised Knowledge Suppression
Original framing: “What Would We All Say If Iran Razed MIT Because of Military-Related Research?” — The Intercept
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.
Israel’s strikes on Iranian universities are not isolated incidents but part of a centuries-old pattern of weaponising knowledge infrastructure to subjugate nations, from Alexander the Great to NATO’s 1999 bombing of Serbia.
This tactic disproportionately targets Global South institutions while Western universities—despite their own military-industrial ties (e.g., MIT’s DARPA contracts)—remain unscrutinised, revealing a hierarchy of academic legitimacy. The destruction of Iranian universities disrupts not just education but cultural continuity, as seen in the role of campuses in the 1979 revolution and post-war reconstruction. Meanwhile, sanctions and geopolitical isolation (e.g., bans on Iranian researchers accessing journals) compound the damage, creating a feedback loop of knowledge apartheid. A systemic solution requires treating universities as neutral zones of intellectual exchange, dismantling the militarisation of research, and redistributing power in global knowledge systems—starting with treaties, solidarity funds, and decolonial governance reforms.