Two of the world’s sharpest legal brains have joined forces to fight a possible boycott of Israeli universities by Britain’s largest academic union.

Anthony Julius, lawyer to Princess Diana and Heather McCartney, and Alan Dershowitz, professor of law at Harvard University who advised OJ Simpson during his murder trial, have begun preparations for a transatlantic legal attack aimed at derailing a possible boycott by the University College Union (UCU).

The two distinguished lawyers – who are both vocal supporters of Israel – believe a boycott would be illegal and could be challenged through litigation.

Speaking to Times Online this week, Mr Julius, a consultant at law firm Mishcon de Reya, said the boycott, it if goes ahead, was likely to be “multiply unlawful.”

Together with Mr Dershowitz – who has vowed to “devastate and bankrupt” academics who shun Israel – Mr Julius has been evaluating legal challenges ahead of the UCU’s vote on a formal boycott next year.

Since the UCU has only voted in favour of discussing a boycott rather than actually putting one in place, Mr Julius said the legal avenues he and Mr Dershowitz are exploring were “hypothetical at the moment” but that they wanted to be ready to help protect Israeli academics and universities if a formal boycott is established.

Mr Julius said one area where a boycott could fall foul of the law is if it discriminates against UCU members who wish to retain ties to Israeli universities. He added that if a boycott names specific Israeli institutions – as other proposals have done previously – then the targeted universities could have a case for defamation.

Writing in The Times today, the two lawyers called British trade unions’ focus on boycotting Israel an “ugly obsession” often based on “absurd, ignominious beliefs”. They argued that the current boycott proposal campaign contained “an edge of malice” and that it should be considered anti-Semitic.

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