New York, NY, May 26, 2005…The decision of the British Association of University Teachers (AUT) to rescind its boycott of Israeli universities was hailed as a "decisive victory on many fronts" by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).  At a Special Council of the AUT in London, delegates voted by a decisive margin to overturn the decision originally adopted at the AUT conference in April to boycott Haifa University and Bar-Ilan University.

"The vote at today's AUT Special Council is a significant victory on many fronts," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "It is a victory for academic freedom; it is a victory for those courageous British academics and students who have opposed the boycott policy and it is a victory for tolerance and democratic debate; it is a victory over the ugly lie that Israel is an apartheid state which should be boycotted."

Mr. Foxman added that today's action "should send a loud and clear message to others seeking to boycott Israel that it is wrong and they will meet stiff resistance."

ADL played a major role in opposing the boycott. Hours before the AUT debate, an ADL petition with thousands of signatures was hand-delivered to AUT Headquarters in London.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.