Weizmann Institute damaged by Iranian missiles.

AP News

Iranian missile strikes Israel's 'crown jewel of science'

For years, Israel has assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists, hoping to choke progress on Iran’s nuclear program by striking at the brains behind it.

Many of those labs focus on the life sciences, whose projects are especially sensitive to physical damage, Fleishman said. The labs were studying areas like tissue generation, developmental biology or cancer, with much of their work now halted or severely set back by the damage.

“This was the life’s work of many people,” he said, noting that years’ or even decades’ worth of research was destroyed.

For Schuldiner, the damage means the lab he has worked at for 16 years “is entirely gone. No trace. There is nothing to save.”

In that once gleaming lab, he kept thousands of genetically modified flies used for research into the development of the human nervous system, which helped provide insights into autism and schizophrenia, he said.

The lab housed equipment like sophisticated microscopes. Researchers from Israel and abroad joined hands in the study effort.

“All of our studies have stopped,” he said, estimating it would take years to rebuild and get the science work back on track. “It’s very significant damage to the science that we can create and to the contribution we can make to the world.”

45 minutes ago, TheVat said:

Weizmann Institute damaged by Iranian missiles.

AP News

Iranian missile strikes Israel's 'crown jewel of science'

For years, Israel has assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists, hoping to choke progress on Iran’s nuclear program by striking at the brains behind it.

Many of those labs focus on the life sciences, whose projects are especially sensitive to physical damage, Fleishman said. The labs were studying areas like tissue generation, developmental biology or cancer, with much of their work now halted or severely set back by the damage.

“This was the life’s work of many people,” he said, noting that years’ or even decades’ worth of research was destroyed.

For Schuldiner, the damage means the lab he has worked at for 16 years “is entirely gone. No trace. There is nothing to save.”

In that once gleaming lab, he kept thousands of genetically modified flies used for research into the development of the human nervous system, which helped provide insights into autism and schizophrenia, he said.

The lab housed equipment like sophisticated microscopes. Researchers from Israel and abroad joined hands in the study effort.

“All of our studies have stopped,” he said, estimating it would take years to rebuild and get the science work back on track. “It’s very significant damage to the science that we can create and to the contribution we can make to the world.”

Tragic for the scientists, but frankly I struggle to sympathise with Israel about this.

Or is this an example of fake news ?

36 minutes ago, studiot said:

Or is this an example of fake news ?

Unlikely if it's in AP News.

Just now, StringJunky said:

Unlikely if it's in AP News.

So why is it not on Aunties' news ?

Why the fuck can we not just leave scientific and medical facilities alone?

Let’s try attacking the oppositions armies not fucking civilians, DID WE LEARN NOTHING FROM SARAJEVO

53 minutes ago, Sohan Lalwani said:

Why the fuck can we not just leave scientific and medical facilities alone?

Who is “we” in this scenario?

4 hours ago, studiot said:

Or is this an example of fake news ?

Not sure if you're familiar with my postings or family information I've shared, so let me just briefly cover that. I come from a family with two professional journalists and myself worked for a daily newspaper for a year as a college job. I always (ok, let's say 99% percent of the time because no one's perfect) check my sources, and try to find coverage in reputable news outlets which corroborate. You will note my link was from AP News and included photographs of the damaged campus of the institute.

You will also find corroboration at the Weizmann website, and:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/06/19/israel-iran-scientists-weizmann-strike/d60ae498-4cfe-11f0-8fff-262d6ec54ab9_story.html

https://m.economictimes.com/news/international/us/iran-destroys-israels-50-million-science-treasure-weizmann-institute-marking-one-of-the-wars-most-costly-strikes/articleshow/121977506.cms

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/israel-iran-attack-news/card/israel-s-weizmann-institute-buildings-damaged-in-iran-attack-1KFe6Nmj0kQPFpl3lbNf

I had come to think I had a good relationship of trust with regular members here, so if I've done something to tarnish that, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE to PM me with whatever concerns you have.

Regards, Paul

5 hours ago, exchemist said:

Tragic for the scientists, but frankly I struggle to sympathise with Israel about this.

As do I.

19 minutes ago, swansont said:

Who is “we” in this scenario?

I should specify, I

Just now, TheVat said:

I had come to think I had a good relationship of trust with regular members here, so if I've done something to tarnish that, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE to PM me with whatever concerns you have.

Regards, Paul

I wasn't doubting your sincerity or your diligence for one moment.

But I recently posted an article about both Iran and Israel promulgating fake news in respect of the preent conflict.

Apparantly Iran has been claiming unjustified success (to bolster morale ?)

Meanwhile Israel has been posting old pics and vids of demonstrations to bolster their claim that Irans people are dissatisfied with their regime.

4 hours ago, studiot said:

So why is it not on Aunties' news ?

Probably self-censoring.

11 minutes ago, studiot said:

But I recently posted an article about both Iran and Israel promulgating fake news in respect of the present conflict.

Apparently Iran has been claiming unjustified success (to bolster morale ?)

For sure, that kind of propagandistic fakery is always to be watched out for. I'm pretty sure the Weizmann attack is a real story, given that the Institute is so high profile in an international scientific community, is easily found on Street View to match with the photographs of damage, and that multiple sources are reporting the same thing, including biologists who work there or do work in collaboration with them. At this point, it would be really hard to fake all of that with such massive coordination. I sympathize with the biologists, but less so with an Israeli government that has done so much to inflame the situation with their neighbors.

As bad as urban conflict has gotten in Gaza, I strongly encourage people not to side with irans current regime.

4 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

Probably self-censoring.

Curious...not being of the Limey persuasion, is that a broader Beeb problem that you all are seeing over there?

3 minutes ago, Sohan Lalwani said:

As bad as urban conflict has gotten in Gaza, I strongly encourage people not to side with irans current regime.

I doubt anyone here is taking sides with Iran. The Middle East seems generally to be suffering a paucity of peacemakers. And an abundance of defensive finger pointers.

4 minutes ago, TheVat said:

Curious...not being of the Limey persuasion, is that a broader Beeb problem that you all are seeing over there?

I doubt anyone here is taking sides with Iran. The Middle East seems generally to be suffering a paucity of peacemakers. And an abundance of defensive finger pointers.

That depends where you stand in this conflict, I think, whether it's pro-Israeli or anti-Iranian. I don't feel that the BBC is a reliable source for geopolitical news. I feel increasingly that it deceives by omission. The AP and Al Jazeera (surprisingly) are more neutral. By 'neutral' I mean there appears to be no obvious attempt to ''guide' the consumer towards a particular view or interpretation. The BBC tends to use emotionally loaded words as though it institutionally believes it has the correct "moral" position on what is right or wrong. The BBC, and a few others, are regarded as being at the apex of news dissemination, but I don't think it can hold a candle to AP, Reuters or Al Jazeera.

29 minutes ago, Sohan Lalwani said:

As bad as urban conflict has gotten in Gaza, I strongly encourage people not to side with irans current regime.

It's not a matter of taking sides, but Iran has internal issues that only be solved internally. Many leading Israeli people speak of a "Greater Israel" as an aspiration; that's colonialist talk. That's a real problem involving Syria and Lebanon. It is not an exaggeration to say that Israel is the elephant in the room.

47 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

That's a real problem involving Syria and Lebanon. It is not an exaggeration to say that Israel is the elephant in the room.

It’s not especially with numerous attacks on Israel since 1948

1 hour ago, TheVat said:

I doubt anyone here is taking sides with Iran. The Middle East seems generally to be suffering a paucity of peacemakers. And an abundance of defensive finger pointers.

I see some people watch the missiles hit Tel Aviv like it’s a WWE match on the Al Jazzera live stream

Right-wing and religious nationalist politicians often express support for expanding Israeli control over more territory, especially the West Bank, which some consider part of historic or biblical Israel. Parties like Likud, Religious Zionists, and certain settlers’ groups have voiced visions aligned with some form of Greater Israel. Centrist and left-wing politicians generally emphasize a two-state solution or maintaining Israel’s current borders with some negotiated changes. They tend to avoid framing their platforms in terms of Greater Israel and focus on security, diplomacy, and coexistence.

Many people speaking of the elimination of Israel is likewise not imperialist talk?

6 minutes ago, Sohan Lalwani said:

It’s not especially with numerous attacks on Israel since 1948

I wonder why? I'm being sarcastic. But that's another old chestnut we shouldn't go into here because there is many threads on it.

1 hour ago, StringJunky said:

That depends where you stand in this conflict, I think, whether it's pro-Israeli or anti-Iranian. I don't feel that the BBC is a reliable source for geopolitical news. I feel increasingly that it deceives by omission. The AP and Al Jazeera (surprisingly) are more neutral. By 'neutral' I mean there appears to be no obvious attempt to ''guide' the consumer towards a particular view or interpretation.

Jazeera and MEE (not sure about AP) report in an extremely bias manner. When reviewing Israeli history especially, those media sources tend to twist the narrative to their viewpoint or to the audience they are catering too. I also encourage you to read some of the comments made by hooligans in the comment section if you ever visit YouTube.

2 minutes ago, Sohan Lalwani said:

Jazeera and MEE (not sure about AP) report in an extremely bias manner. When reviewing Israeli history especially, those media sources tend to twist the narrative to their viewpoint or to the audience they are catering too. I also encourage you to read some of the comments made by hooligans in the comment section if you ever visit YouTube.

Well, one thing's for sure, we can't trust most Israelis in the telling of their history.

1 hour ago, StringJunky said:

Well, one thing's for sure, we can't trust most Israelis in the telling of their history.

I can’t agree here, sure telling one’s history may have biases, but I’d trust it over MEE doing a video on it.