Ambassador Ron Prosor wrote that a “climate of hatred” had been stirred up against Israel on British campuses in an article in the Telegraph yesterday.

But Rammell today rejected the remarks, which followed lecturers’ agreeing to consider cutting links with Israeli academics at last month’s University and College Union annual congress.

In a statement, Rammell said: “I do not agree that there is widespread radical anti-Israeli sentiment on our higher education campuses.

“I do not believe calls for academic boycotts of Israel have anything more than small minority support amongst academics.

“Universities have a vital role to play in challenging those views that we may regard as uncomfortable or distasteful and, where such views do exist, it is the responsibility of staff and students to isolate the very small minority who promote extremism,” he said.

“We recently published updated guidance to all higher education institutions on how to promote shared values, break down segregation and increase cohesion on our campuses.

“The government is completely opposed to any form of academic boycott of Israel, which will harm rather than help moves towards peace and reconciliation in the middle-east.

“Israel and the occupied territories contain both progressives and reactionaries, and the problem with boycotts is that they make the job of progressives much more difficult and entrench the position of the reactionaries.

Prosor’s article claimed the debate over Israel had been “hijacked by extremists” and that his country had faced a campaign of “delegitimisation, demonisation and double standards”.

He said: “Fairness is all too frequently absent in a debate that has been hijacked by extremists.

“Britain has become a hotbed for radical anti-Israeli views and a haven for disingenuous calls for a ‘one-state solution’, a euphemistic name for a movement advocating Israel’s destruction.

“Over-simplifications, half-truths and lies have been swallowed as reality and disseminated as truth.

“A climate of hatred is fomented on campuses. The complexities of the situation are overlooked, as are the responsibilities of other actors in the region.”

Prosor attacked the decision by UCU lecturers to consider a potential boycott of Israeli academics as a license to “harass, humiliate and victimise” purely on grounds of nationality.

Rammell is touring university campuses to debate academic freedom and extremism on campus. He reiterated his strong opposition to any form of boycott at a debate organised by UCU last week.

Prosor said: “The concept of an academic boycott is a ludicrous oxymoron, undermining the democratic principles of free speech and free debate.

“Academics, who are supposedly society’s guardians of knowledge, objectivity and informed debate, have seen their union held hostage by radical factions, armed with political agendas and personal interests.”