The balloting was held Wednesday at the University and College Union congress in Bournemouth. Delegates accused Israeli academics of complicity in Israel’s acts against Palestinians.

This marked the fourth consecutive year that the Union voted in favor of boycotting Israel; the previous calls were never acted upon.

Especially disconcerting to Zionist Britons was a statement by Sean Wallis, secretary for the Union’s branch at University College London, who reportedly said the position that a boycott was illegal was attributable to lawyers backed by people with “bank balances from Lehman Brothers that can’t be tracked down.”

“This disgusting remark shows that the agenda of at least some in the Israel boycott movement goes way beyond the political into the outright racist,” Jonathan Hoffman, co-vice chair of Britain’s Zionist Federation, told Haaretz.

The Union did not give its reaction before press time.