A Jewish peer has claimed that anti-Semitism is at its worst level in Britain since he fled here from Germany in 1936

Richard Holt:

Lord Moser said he was particularly concerned about anti-Jewish feeling in Britain's universities.

Addressing a House of Lords debate on anti-Semitism on university campuses, the crossbench peer said: "It is just over 70 years since I came to this country and I have to say that I've never been more concerned about the rising tide of anti-Semitism throughout Europe, including this country.

"This is evident in many ways and among my greatest worries is what is happening on university campuses where there have been many examples of anti-Semitic outbursts and discrimination.

"Leadership of the universities and the Government need to speak out in the strongest terms against such interference."

During the Lords debate there was cross-party condemnation of a proposal by the Universities and Colleges Union Congress to boycott Israeli universities.

Baroness Morris of Bolton, for the Conservatives, attacked "a handful of lecturers who seem to have hijacked their union".

She said the proposed boycott "makes us look, unfairly, biased and petty-minded and it plays into the hands of radical fanatics on campus. There is a time and a place for teenage gesture politics - this isn't it."

Lord Patten, the former Conservative education secretary, described the idea of a boycott as "entirely abhorrent - engagement is always better than exclusion".

Baroness Walmsley, a Liberal Democrats, also opposed a boycott, saying: "I abhor the idea of limitations on legitimate academic freedom within reasonable limits."

Lord Adonis, the education Minister said: "The Government unequivocally deplores any proposed boycott.

"A boycott is not only wrong in principle, undermining the integrity of relations between bona fide centres of learning but in practice its only likely effect would be to weaken the progressive forces within both Israel and the Palestinian occupied territories."

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