UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE UNION AND AN ACADEMIC BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL

Early day motion 1603, tabled 5 June 2007 by Lord Mann (Labour). Signed by 119 members.

That this House regrets the motion passed at the congress of the University and College Union (UCU) on 30th May, which promotes a boycott of Israeli universities and a moratorium on research and cultural collaboration with Israel; agrees with Sally Hunt, General Secretary of UCU, who has said previously that `I simply do not believe that the majority of UCU members support an academic boycott of Israel; most want us to retain dialogue with trade unionists on all sides-not just those we agree with'; supports the Government's response to the parliamentary inquiry into anti-semitism which concludes that `calls to boycott contact with academics working in Israel are an assault on academic freedom and intellectual exchange'; believes that boycotting Israeli education institutions and academics is damaging to the UK's reputation worldwide and does nothing to promote a settlement in the Middle East; and urges the UCU to conduct a full ballot of its 120,000 members before adopting the terms of the resolution as policy.

Signatures by party: Labour 52, Conservative 42, Liberal Democrat 18, DUP 5, Scottish National Party 1, UUP 1.