With regard to your item on the proposed boycott of Israeli lecturers by the British union for college and university staff (“Israeli lecturers targeted,” May 13), perhaps they can also call for a boycott of British and American lecturers. The estimated death toll in the illegal British-American war and occupation of Iraq has already exceeded the total number of Palestinians and Israelis killed since that conflict began 50 years ago.

And while Palestinians live under tough conditions as they work to achieve the state they deserve, the British government has helped turn Iraq into a living hell.

To avoid being hypocrites, all British lecturers should first be required to sign statements against their government before they start dictating conditions to other academics.

Dani Dov, Zurich