The Cost of Boycott
For some time, Dr. Eitan Galun, the head of Hadassah Medical Organization\’s Goldyne Savad Gene Therapy Institute, has been engaged in research to cure a genetic disease prevalent in the Palestinian community. He recently requested genetic material from a Norwegian scientist and was refused. \”Due to the present situation in the Middle East, I will not deliver any material to an Israelitic (sic) university,\” she responded by e-mail. With this statement, she engaged in nothing less than a boycott of Israel and its scientists. By her actions, which confuse science with politics, the Palestinian population will needlessly continue to suffer from a disease that could be cured through scientific cooperation. This irony seems to have escaped the Norwegian researcher.