The CERN control center. Photo: Torkild Retvedt via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The governing council of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, will vote Thursday to decide if Israel will become a full member of the atomic research center. If Israel receives unanimous support by the 20 council representatives, it will be the first non-European country to become a full member.

As a full CERN member, Israel would be able to participate in experiments with CERN’s particle accelerator. Israel has been an associate member since 2011, and Israeli scientists have already participated in several other CERN experiments.

“Full membership in an organization like this is a very impressive calling card, and it reflects Israel’s high scientific and technological level,” Ilana Levi, head of the Israeli Science Ministry’s foreign relations department, told Haaretz. “Acceptance as a full member would grant greater access to the most advanced and unique research labs and facilities, of a kind that Israel has neither the ability nor any reason to build in Israel.”