The National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) is the British trade union and professional association for people working with those above statutory school age, and primarily concerned with providing education, training or research.

A representative of Education Minister Yuli Tamir's said that Tamir asked the British higher education minister Bill Rammell to act promptly to foil the boycott resolution.

MK Arye Eldad said Israel must go to war against NATFHE's "witch hunt." The committee decided to "sharply denounce any display of academic boycott, infringement on freedom of opinion and freedom of speech."

The committee called on the government to cooperate with Britain in joint British-Israeli projects, thus counteracting attempts at boycott and ostracism.

The proposal to be discussed by NATFHE calls for boycotting institutions and organizations that don't publicly object to the occupation.

The expected debate has spurred Israeli academics and pro-Israel lobbyists in England and the United States to try to prevent NATFHE to support the boycott. The boycott drive is fueled by the initiative of dozens of civic Palestinian organizations calling for an academic and cultural boycott on Israel.