Updated: Sun Feb. 22 2009 1:14:50 PM

The Canadian Press

WINDSOR, Ont. – Delegates at a conference in Windsor for the Canadian Union of Public Employees have voted in favour of boycotting Israeli universities.

Resolution 50 protests the Israeli siege of Gaza, which members of the Jewish Defence League call anti-Semitic.

At least two locals at the University of Windsor have said they would disassociate from CUPE Ontario if the resolution was passed.

They claim the boycott will hurt research because it won’t allow researchers at Ontario universities to collaborate with their colleagues in Israel.

When the boycott action was first announced earlier this year, CUPE Ontario President Sid Ryan angered many by also calling for a ban on Israeli professors from universities in Ontario.

He has since revised those statements.