An anti-Israel vote last week by an academic union typifies a remarkable trend: Liberal British institutions are increasingly looking for ways to isolate and punish their nation’s traditionally strongest ally in the Middle East.

Last week, the University and College Union (ucu) voted 158 to 99 to advocate undertaking “a comprehensive and consistent international boycott of all Israeli academic institutions” in response to “Israel’s 40-year occupation.” Contained within the motion was a condemnation of Israel for having “seriously damaged the fabric of Palestinian society through annexation, illegal settlement, collective punishment and restriction of movement,” as well as of Israeli academia for “complicity” in the occupation.

The success of the motion means that calls from Palestinians for the boycott will be circulated throughout all branches of the union to fuel discussion in advance of a final decision at a later time on whether or not the boycott will go into effect.

Interestingly, the ucu motion simultaneously endorsed a call to “actively encourage and support branches to create direct links with Palestinian educational institutions and to help set up nationally sponsored programs for teacher exchanges, sabbatical placements, and research.”

ucu is only the most recent of several boycotts of Israel being considered in Britain. Britain’s largest trade union, unison, will consider implementing an economic boycott of Israel at its annual conference later this month. Over 100 British doctors have advocated boycotting the Israeli Medical Association.

In April, the British National Union of Journalists voted to boycott Israeli goods, and called on the British government and the United Nations to impose sanctions.

In response to the ucu action, Israel’s welfare minister, Isaac Herzog, implicated “an active Muslim minority joining forces with left-wing elements in the British public” in fomenting anti-Israel sentiment. There is no denying the inroads that some very radical Muslim elements have made into public life in the island nation.

Britain, an important friend of the Jews in Palestine for over a century, was instrumental in the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 (though its contradictory promises to Arabs helped create the clash of expectations that drove the ensuing wars). With Israel as isolated as it is internationally, every ally counts. Amazingly, it is the only European nation seeking a boycott of Israel.

The poisoning of the relationship with Britain could help drive the Jewish state to even greater levels of desperation as it looks for ways to defend itself against its hostile neighbors.