New York, NY, May 28, 2009 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today condemned passage of a resolution calling for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions by Britain's main academic union. 

This was the fourth year in a row the University and Colleges Union (UCU), at its annual meeting, has passed such resolutions condemning Israel and supporting the boycott of Israeli academics and academic institutions.

"The UCU continues to engage in the shameful exercise to demonize Israel and Israeli academics, violating all standards of academic freedom and non-discrimination upheld by institutions of higher education," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. 

The key resolution calls on UCU branches to discuss boycotting Israel, and commits the union to organize a pro-boycott conference for other trade unions to attend.   The union's leadership and its legal counsel have already determined that such action would violate British anti-discrimination law and thus cannot be implemented.

The UCU previously passed three resolutions targeting Israeli academics in May 2007, before announcing several months later that legal counsel had advised that an academic boycott of Israel "would be unlawful and cannot be implemented."

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.