Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni said yesterday that "we're dealing with hypocrisy and hatred from the university teachers' unions in their boycott of israel and this must not be allowed to emerge."

"This is a marginal body and must be made to understand that whoever promotes such a boycott will pay a price."

"We cannot afford to do nothing. We have an obligation to prevent the process' expansion," Livni said during the debate.

Israeli education minister Yuli Tamir said, "We must initiate a move that will render the boycott illegitimate in the eyes of the world. It is important that Israel make this unequivocally clear. The goal is to make the the British public reject the intention to boycott Israel."