I think we can be cautiously optimistic that the AUT boycott of Israeli Universities will be overturned on Friday. In an interview with the BBC, a boycott instigator, Sue Blackwell is quoted as saying:

'If the people who come to the council are the usual people, who are dedicated unionists who care about the issue, we could win.

'If we find the meeting is packed with people who are opposing the boycott, we may struggle.'
BBC - Israel boycott 'stitch-up' claim

A pretty amusing baldfaced admission that her group hijacked the AUT... she means that so long as the AUT meeting is dominated by a small group of activists who do not represent the membership base, the boycott will stand - but if there's a good turnout of ordinary members looking to overturn a shameful decision, it'll go.

After looking at her website this morning, I was wondering a little this morning what turns somebody who is neither Palestinian nor Jewish into a rabid hate-monger. I remember reading somewhere that Blackwell was a Christian fundamentalist as a kid. Yes, here's a link. So probably she was 'converted' by the usual set of circumstances that draws people to fringe groups - dissatisfaction with their own life, welcome embrace and positive feedback by a small tightknit group and a feeling of spiritual righteousness and superiority to general society.