It was confirmed this week that a motion to boycott Israeli universities, colleges and schools was submitted to Britain’s Universities and Colleges Union (UCU)’s first annual Congress.

The motion was submitted by two local branches of UCU. It “condemns the complicity of Israeli academia in the occupation” and would force UCU to “circulate the full text of the Palestinian boycott call to all branches”, and “encourage members to consider the moral implications of existing and proposed links with Israeli academic institutions”. It will go the vote at the end of May.

In a positive step, the UCU’s leadership has submitted an alternative motion that would adopt the AUT guidelines on Greylisting; these impose a series of tests on any proposed boycott, to ensure that academic freedom is protected; the academic boycott of Israel would fail those tests.

UCU local branches have an opportunity to submit amendments to motions, so there may be more to come.