[News] Iranian strike on Weizmann wipes out years of Israeli war research

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/iranian-strike-on-weizmann-wipes-out-years-of-israeli-war-re>
Iranian strike on Weizmann wipes out years of Israeli war research
Al Mayadeen English  - June 17, 2025
------------------------------

The Weizmann Institute, long linked to Israeli weapons research, was struck
by Iran in response to its role in developing tools used against civilians.

   - [image: Weizmann Institute, core of Israeli war science, destroyed by
   Iran]
   <https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/6/17/d93da02b-3e4f-4187-b10b-151963f45811.jpeg?v=4&width=1000>
   Weizmann Institute after the Iranian strike on June 15, 2025 (Social media)

A recent Iranian missile strike has inflicted extensive damage on the
Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, central occupied Palestine, a
facility long considered a cornerstone of the Israeli occupation’s
scientific and military-industrial infrastructure.

According to *The Marker*, a daily business newspaper published by the *Haaretz
*Group in "Israel", several buildings within the institute sustained direct
hits, with one key laboratory complex entirely destroyed by fire.

The targeted site housed advanced research in life sciences, artificial
intelligence, and molecular biology, areas that have directly supported the
Israeli entity’s development of surveillance, targeting, and weapons
systems used in attacks
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/irgc-announces-martyrdom-of-intel-chief--aides--in-israeli-s>
across the region.

Described by Israeli media as the “scientific and military brain” of
"Israel", the Weizmann Institute has played a pivotal role in the research
and development of technologies underpinning airstrike coordination
systems, drone warfare capabilities, and battlefield medical technology,
all of which have been deployed in repeated assaults on civilian
populations in Gaza
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/gaza-death-toll-surges-to-55-432-killed--128-923-injured>,
Lebanon, Yemen, and most recently, Iran.

One of the laboratories destroyed was run by Israeli Professor Eldad
Tzahor, a veteran in the Department of Molecular Cell Biology. Israeli
Professor Eran Segal, whose AI lab was also directly hit, noted that
millions of dollars' worth of equipment was damaged beyond recovery due to
water and structural damage. Segal’s lab had reportedly contributed to
algorithmic systems used in battlefield decision-making and real-time
surveillance, tools that have aided the Israeli entity's strikes in Gaza
and elsewhere.

Photos released by Israeli media showed scorched interiors, collapsed lab
floors, destroyed electrical systems, and structural devastation, the
result of what sources described as a precision strike.
Not a random target: A symbol of militarized science

While Israeli officials have downplayed the implications, *The Marker*
acknowledged the strike was "not random," but a calculated attack on a
facility used for military power through scientific research.

Media reports also framed the operation as direct payback for the
assassination of Iran's nuclear scientists.

Experts say the institute’s deep ties to the Israeli security apparatus
have made it a legitimate military target in Iran’s eyes
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/iran-avenges-assassinated-scientists--strikes-key-weizmann-i>,
particularly given its support for advanced weapons technologies used to
target civilians.

Israeli Professor Sharel Fleishman, whose lab was not impacted, admitted
the losses are irreplaceable. “Life sciences labs rely on materials that
are gathered and preserved over many years. When a lab is destroyed, and
with it all those materials, it’s irreplaceable,” he said.

Another Israeli researcher, Professor Oren Schuldiner, told *The Marker*:
“It’s as if the lab evaporated into thin air.” Schuldiner noted that
rebuilding the affected laboratories and their capabilities will take at
least two years.

The destruction of the Weizmann Institute sends a clear message from
Tehran, analysts say: the Israeli occupation’s institutions cannot continue
to serve dual roles as research centers and military enablers with impunity
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--targets-civilians-in-tehran--mothers-rush-in-with-w>
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