The prestigious scientific journal Nature referred to Hamas, which carried out the horrific massacre on Israeli border towns on October 7, as a "militant organization,” a description that stirred significant anger within the scientific community in Israel.
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"People in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank are reeling from the repercussions of the 7 October attacks on Israel by the militant organization Hamas," the Nature article in question read in its opening paragraph.
For comparison, the United States Department of State classifies Hamas as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Hamas was named in an article about Dr. Victoria and Prof. Sergey Gredeskul, both 81, who were murdered by Hamas terrorists in Ofakim. The attackers spotted the couple as they were returning home from the bomb shelter after an alarm was activated in the city. The terrorists broke into their home and there murdered the couple.
Prof. Gredeskul was a renowned physicist, particularly famous in the Soviet Union. He began his career at Kharkov University in Ukraine. Sergey emigrated to Israel in 1991 with his wife Viktoria, a well-known mathematician. In Israel, he lectured at Ben Gurion University and conducted research with Tel Aviv University.
Ben Gurion University President Daniel Chamovitz, who gave an interview for the article, said that he regretted speaking to the scientific journal after learning about the journal's description of Hamas.
"Had I known that Nature would call Hamas that, I would have refused their interview request," Chamovitz said. "When a scientific journal that purports to be the best in the world cannot show factual and moral integrity, then I doubt its judgment and ability to lead scientific inquiry is needed for the advancement of science and research."
According to the university in southern Israel, the institution lost 84 faculty, students and their family members on October 7.
The article, authored by the magazine's news team and freelance journalists, covers the impact of the war on academic research institutions in Israel and Gaza. It reports that Bar Ilan University lost 34 members of its faculty and student body. Additionally, the Weizmann Institute also experienced losses, but the exact number of fatalities was not specified.
In Gaza, the article notes that Israel had bombarded the Al-Azhar University, Gaza University and the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG). The authors said they reached out to the IDF for confirmation that the university was used by terrorists.
An IDF spokesperson replied in a statement sent by email, “The IDF is currently focused on eliminating the [threat] from the terrorist organization Hamas. Questions of your kind will be looked into in a later stage,” Nature stated in the article.