Original Article - https://thecjn.ca/news/canadians-are-rallying-to-rebuild-israeli-universities-hit-by-iranian-missiles/

Iranian missiles badly damaged the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot and Ben-Gurion University's campus in Beersheba, including its teaching hospital at Soroka Medical Center.

A direct hit by two Iranian missiles on June 15 caused an estimated $500 million worth of damage to the campus of Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, in Rehovot, Israel. They destroyed a major cancer research building and a chemistry building that was still under construction. Four days later, Iran targeted the area of Beersheba’s Ben-Gurion University campus, directly hitting its teaching hospital, the Soroka Medical Center. A surgical wing was hit, injuring about 70 people, including some patients. The impact also damaged at least half of the university’s 60 buildings. Meanwhile, a new strike just yesterday on June 24 in the city killed four Israelis, when the missile hit an apartment complex, rendering many more university staff homeless.

Since 2003, the Canadian fundraising chapters of Weizmann and Ben-Gurion have sent over $320 million in donations to these two universities in Israel. The gifts purchased research equipment, built labs, funded scholarships and in some cases, had buildings or departments named after them, including the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Theoretical Physics at Weizmann and the Azrieli National Centre for Autism at Ben-Gurion.

Seeing the scenes of destruction has been heartbreaking for Canadian philanthropists. But after the initial shock of the last weeks, Canadian supporters are now swinging into action, launching emergency fundraising campaigns to rebuild—even, as they say, if it takes years.

On today’s episode of North Star, The CJN’s flagship news podcast, host Ellin Bessner checks in with Susan Stern, CEO of Weizmann Canada, and Andrea Freedman, the CEO of Ben-Gurion University Canada.

Transcript

Ellin Bessner: Since 2003, Canadians have donated at least $200 million through Weizmann Canada. In the case of Ben-Gurion University, supporters from Canada have donated over $100 million to that school in the same time period. Just recently, former Montreal philanthropist Sylvan Adams pledged $100 million more to a state-of-the-art sports centre, and the Azrielis have a Human Brain Imaging Institute there. We reached the CEO, Andrea Friedman, in Montreal.

Andrea Freedman: Yeah, so thanks for having me on. I appreciate Ellin, and I appreciate the spotlight you’re shining on the tremendous damage that takes place each and every time there’s a missile strike in Israel because I think it’s hard for us to fully comprehend how powerful these bombs are. And I think the damage to Ben-Gurion University is a great example of that because it wasn’t a direct hit. The direct hit was to Soroka, which is very close by, across the street. It’s an entire ecosystem in Beersheba around the university and the hospital. But of the 85 buildings at Ben-Gurion University on our Marcus Campus, which is in Beersheba, 60 of them were damaged. Now, some of them are relatively minor, a broken window here or there, but a lot of them are really significant. Hundreds of windows blown out of buildings, parts of ceilings collapsed. Right now, there are all sorts of structural engineers on site assessing damage to see what is safe and what is not safe to go back into.

Ellin Bessner: The closest buildings to Soroka would have been, I guess, the worst blast impact. What are some of the worst ones?

Andrea Freedman: It’s interesting the way shockwaves work, and I’m just learning about this over the last 24 hours, is that there’s no rhyme or reason to it. So you’ll have the student building, which is really badly damaged, next to the Yazamut Entrepreneur Centre that has no damage, and then the building next to Yazamut has lots of damage. So shockwaves work in mysterious ways, and the damage is fairly widespread.

Ellin Bessner: Were any Canadians, either staff, students, researchers, patients, visiting at the time at Ben-Gurion?

Andrea Freedman: So Ben-Gurion University, like all universities in Israel right now, is following the guidelines of the Home Front Command, and that was to close. So there were very, very few people on campus. Obviously, students who live in dorms were there. And so the campus was largely vacant of people, and while the damage to buildings, similar to at Soroka, is very extensive, the injuries fortunately were incredibly light and moderate.

Ellin Bessner: Okay, so let’s talk a bit about the backstory to the connection between Ben-Gurion and Canada in terms of what are the big projects, what are the big buildings with Canadian funding?

Andrea Freedman: Yeah. So there’s a very strong connection between Canada and Ben-Gurion University, particularly between Montreal and Toronto, because Montreal’s sister city is Be’ersheva, and our main campus is located in Be’ersheva. Toronto’s original sister city was Eilat, and we have a campus in Eilat as well. So the connections run incredibly deep to Beersheba and to Ben-Gurion University in particular. We’re very fortunate here in Canada. We’ve got donors who have made very significant commitments over the university’s history.

Last year, we raised $30 million for Ben-Gurion University from Canadian donors, which is very, very significant, and we’re really grateful to all of our donors. But Ellin, as you know, the needs just keep compounding. So the challenge, I think, for most Israeli institutions right now is, how do you take care of emergency needs but not mortgage your future? How do you continue to plan, to build, to dream, to do research that can help save lives, that can change everybody’s lives, but still focus on the emotional needs and the structural needs of your students and faculty today? And that’s the challenge for us in the Diaspora—to support this.

Ellin Bessner: So the campus is still closed until next week-ish?

Andrea Freedman: It’s a moving target. The campus remains closed right now until at least Tuesday June 24. Exams have been postponed by a couple of weeks because they’re supposed to start right around now. Ben- Gurion is following the Home Front Commands on when to reopen, and they’re constantly looking for ways to support their students and faculty at this difficult time. Many students, 6,000 actually, received call-up notices last week. That’s a really large segment of the student population. There are 30 faculty members who, as a result of the last week, have been evacuated from their homes because they’ve been damaged by Iranian ballistic missiles. We’re looking for ways of supporting the psychological needs of our students and faculty. We’re looking for ways to financially support people. Before October 7, the university gave out approximately $20 million US in subsidies and scholarships for students. That number has only increased because more and more people are now in need of additional support, and we’re doing our very best to help those people.

Ellin Bessner: Are there particular projects that are up and buildings or labs or wings that are in the process of being built that now were damaged or something that’s just opened?

Andrea Freedman: Yeah. So, I think we have to look at Ben-Gurion through two lenses. The first is what I would call the pre-October 7 lens, which is the need for the campus to double in size to accommodate the anticipated increase in students. Before October 7, we had embarked on a $1 billion global development campaign to have the university meet the needs of the Negev. That’s one of the really unique features of Ben-Gurion University. We identify ourselves as a fifth wave university, which means we’re not just concerned with academic excellence and with research, but we’re very concerned and very involved with helping the people of the Negev to make education accessible for them.

Then there’s the second category, which are the increased mental health needs of students, the increased financial needs of students, the fact that our Faculty of Health Sciences was largely housed at Soroka, and all six of those faculty buildings have been badly damaged.  So now all of those students will need someplace else to study for the foreseeable future, and the replacement of all the structural damage on campus. While insurance will pay for some of it, it certainly won’t pay for all of it.

Ellin Bessner: You talked about October 7th, and our listeners may not know, or they may not, they probably know, but they forget, that this was the hospital that basically was the first line of treatment for all the victims in that area. Many of them were not only Israeli Jews, but also Israeli Bedouins, Israeli Arabs who were also impacted. Right? So it’s a very multicultural place.

Andrea Freedman: Yeah. So Ben-Gurion University actually has an 18% Arab and Bedouin student population. It’s an integral part of our campus to have that multifaceted aspect to it. When you think about Soroka and Ben- Gurion University as two separate institutions, in many respects, they’re tied at the hip.

I’ll give you two examples. One is there’s a researcher at Ben Gurion University who does 3D printing. What they did post-October 7th was phenomenal. They’ve been working with surgeons at Soroka Hospital to print 3D models of the patient’s affected area, because that dramatically improves patient outcomes when the surgeon can practice on a real-life model they’ve printed. I hate to get graphic, but they print 3D body parts to help in surgeries. That natural synergy exists and is powerful and important.  The other challenge is the proximity to the helicopters that go frequently from Gaza to Soroka Hospital.

Ellin Bessner: We’re talking about IDF wounded soldiers, yeah.

Andrea Freedman: Yes.

Ellin Bessner: Now, Soroka is the teaching hospital, the teaching centre for Ben Gurion. I know you’re not a spokesperson for Soroka, but can you speak to the needs and also the miracle that everyone’s talking about that no one was hurt?

Andrea Freedman: I don’t have details of the damage to Soroka. I’ve seen the same pictures you’ve seen in the media, and it’s extensive. When I look at Ben-Gurion University, which suffered from the shockwaves, the needs at Soroka have to be extensive. Thank God it was evacuated the day before, primarily because they recognized the upper level didn’t have the structural reinforcements modern-day construction requires in Israel. There’s a huge sense of relief that the bomb didn’t land the day before because the consequences would have been worse.

I always say, with generosity and time, buildings can be rebuilt; not the same for people. That’s what David Ben-Gurion wanted. He wanted to see the Negev bloom, and everything in the Negev happens in and around Ben-Gurion University. We take that role and responsibility seriously, which is why so many philanthropists, like Sylvan Adams, have chosen to invest in it. We understand the strategic importance of a strong Negev to a strong Israel.

Ellin Bessner: Thanks for being on North Star with us.

Andrea Freedman: Thank you, Ellin.

Ellin Bessner: And that’s what Jewish Canada sounds like for this episode of North Star, made possible thanks to the generous support of the Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation.

Ellin Bessner: Many of you may have seen or heard this video making the rounds. It shows a world-renowned professor, Amos Tanay from Israel’s Weizmann Institute, sitting down at a piano playing a jazz tune in the bombed-out wreck of the university’s Ullman Building of Life Sciences. Just hours before, overnight on Sunday, June 15, two Iranian missiles struck the campus, south of Tel Aviv. Nobody was killed, but the direct hits destroyed two buildings, and the impact of the blasts shattered windows and damaged many other buildings on the campus. Tanay is a cell genome expert in the fight against blood cancer. His impromptu performance has been giving Weizmann students, staff, and supporters around the world hope, including here in Canada, where since 1967, the Canadian Society for the Weizmann Institute has been raising awareness and fundraising millions of dollars to send to the school. 

It’s a similar story at the site of the Ben-Gurion University campus in Beersheba, where at the end of last week, a missile and then parts of another missile hit at least 30-That’s half of the school’s-60 buildings were damaged. The worst site was the medical school at the neighbouring Soroka Hospital, including the surgical floors, even though, Thank God, an order had been given a few days earlier to move all the patients out as a precaution. Still 70 people were hurt there.

Susan Stern: Many of those labs and the buildings and the people are part of my family, and I helped build those labs and those buildings, and so I’m heartbroken.

Ellin Bessner: I’m Ellin Bessner, and this is what Jewish Canada sounds like for Wednesday, June 25, 2025. Welcome to North Star, a podcast of the Canadian Jewish News, made possible thanks to the generous support of the Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation. 

While the two universities and the hospital boarded up windows, swept up debris, and salvaged precious experiments where they could, experts are beginning to tally up the extent of the losses. We don’t yet have a full handle on specifically which Canadian projects were impacted. But Canadians have contributed to both campuses in all sorts of ways. For example, Weizmann’s iconic white tower, called the Koffler Particle Accelerator, was named after the late founder of Shoppers Drug Mart, Murray Koffler. The Azrieli family contributed $50 million to a human brain research centre. Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman funded a theoretical physics programme. And then there’s the Canadian Institute for the Applied Energies and Research, with donations from 400 Canadians, including the Tanenbaums, Bronfmans, Posluns, and Shouelas, among others. 

On today’s episode, we wanted to hear more about what Canadian supporters of these two schools are doing in the aftermath. Coming up, you’ll hear from Andrea Freedman of Ben-Gurion Canada. But first, I’m joined by Susan Stern, the CEO of Weizmann Canada, and she joined me just 48 hours after the Rehovot campus was struck.

Susan Stern: Thank you. Thank you.

Ellin Bessner: Well, I’m sorry we’re meeting on this occasion as opposed to good times, but we’re here because you’re the head of the Canadian Weizmann Institute’s Canadian branch, Friends of. And obviously this news about the direct hit on some of the facilities on campus was a shock. Can you give us a quick rundown of the latest news as far as you have it in terms of what has been damaged, and then we’ll go from there?

Susan Stern: Sure. And as you say, it’s unfortunate to be meeting under these circumstances. And as you know, I’ve had the privilege of representing Weizmann as its CEO for over 20 years. And to see the campus today in photos is heartbreaking. I’m also inspired by the incredible spirit of the scientists. 

So as you know, during the nighttime hours of June 15, the beautiful tranquility of the campus was shattered by two devastating direct hits from ballistic missiles launched by Iran as part of a broad-based attack on Israel’s civilian infrastructure. This unprecedented act of aggression targeting the world-renowned research institute caused devastation to scientific and academic facilities as well as to student housing. Scientific work, some of it in progress for many years, was ruined. Essential and very expensive research equipment was destroyed.

Thankfully, thank God, there were no casualties. Initial estimates of the damage suggest the recovery will take years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. And yes, we plan to rebuild as soon as possible, and we will be needing long-term support to do so.  There are also immediate needs to ensure that the Weizmann Institute can continue to stand, as it always has, as a beacon of science, of progress, and of hope.

One of the major buildings that was destroyed was the Integrative Cancer Centre that helps people all over the world through the research in cancer. So we need to find lab space to relocate those labs. We also obviously need to relocate our students. Currently, they’re in temporary housing. We have a very large portion of our postdoctoral students who are international, and so we want to make sure that everybody is safe, that everyone is relocated, and that we can rebuild the science as soon as possible. We anticipate that it’s going to take up to five years. We’re starting now.

Ellin Bessner: For people who aren’t involved in the Weizmann world, how much Canadian money and donations are connected to these particular buildings that were destroyed and the houses, and what have you? Or programmes? Do you know?

Susan Stern: So we have a strong supportive community in Canada. I’ve received so many calls, emails, texts of support, and we do have a strong community. So the buildings that had the most severe damage, the Ullman Building of Life Science, which, as I mentioned, houses the Integrative Cancer Centre, and it is recognized as one of the world’s premier sites for cancer research. There are a number of laboratories in there that were funded by Canadian donors as well as scholarships and pieces of equipment. 

The Wolfson Building for Biological Research, the Goldsmith Building for Mathematics and Computer Science, the Sussman Building for Environmental Sciences, and the Andre DeLauro Building, which we were about to unveil in November and I had the privilege of visiting it a few weeks ago, was among those buildings that were most damaged.

I am so inspired, and it’s helping me put one foot in front of the other, to speak to scientists and management about, I mean, just their attitude about, you know, enemies can destroy property, but they can’t break our spirit. I don’t know if you saw on social media the image of Amos Tanay playing the piano in the middle of the devastated building. And he is a world-renowned scientist and an incredible human being, as they all are. So that, for me, is helping me put one foot in front of the other, and we will rebuild. Everybody’s okay. We need our supporters around us to help us both in the short term and in the longer term to rebuild so that Weizmann continues to be that beacon of hope for the world.

Ellin Bessner: Tell me about the students. Any Canadian students there? You said postdocs, whatever. Any Canadians there that we know now?

Susan Stern: We were planning to send seven students from Canada on a special summer science programme starting next week, and that had to be cancelled, and flights and all these kids were, I mean, it’s a goosebump moment. They were so proud to represent Canada and represent their schools. These are, you know, high school students, and the programme had to be cancelled, unfortunately.

Ellin Bessner: This was the physics ones, who won? The physics project?

Susan Stern: Yeah, the physics happened already.  This is called the International Summer Science Institute, and we had scholarships to send seven students from Canada. They were so excited, coming from a variety of backgrounds and schools across the country.

Ellin Bessner: They were going to be at the lab that was hit.

Susan Stern: They were going to be on the campus. The campus is closed now, but we can’t run the risk of bringing people into the campus. So, the campus is closed. There is electricity damage. The Institute management needs to make sure it’s safe before they bring people back.

And they are also working on relocating a number of those labs. That’s 40 research groups. So, we’re in the middle of critical research. For me, the most important thing is grounding me back in Chaim Weizmann’s vision: Science for the benefit of humanity. And I am hoping that everybody here in Canada and globally stands with us at this critical moment.

Ellin Bessner: It’s a hard thing for you to see. I see you were just there three weeks ago.

Susan Stern: I was. And I’m taking my cue from all of these scientists and management that we will rebuild. Everyone is fine, and we will be stronger than ever before. Property can be destroyed. Spirit cannot be broken.

Ellin Bessner: Thanks so much for giving us this update.

Susan Stern: Thank you for reaching out.

Researchers at both universities conduct some projects together with the Israeli military establishment, but reports say that in Weizmann’s case, Iran’s targeting was payback for years of Israel assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists and trying to block their efforts to build atomic bombs.

Israeli leaders called the Be’ersheva hospital missile a war crime, but Iran says the actual target was a nearby IDF communications and cyber warfare complex just across the train tracks from the university campus. The next day, an Iranian missile hit one building in that high-tech park, home to those military installations. Israeli authorities have not confirmed what was in that building or in the nearby sites that were also damaged.

North Star is produced by Zachary Judah Kauffman and Andrea Varsany. The executive producer is Michael Fraiman, and the music is by Bret Higgins. The links to donate to Ben-Gurion and Weizmann are in our show notes. Thanks for listening.