Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor has delivered a devastating attack on British universities for their role in educating members of the autocratic elites of the Middle East, tolerating extremism on campus and becoming the focus of the boycott movement against Israel.

Speaking at a conference on British-Israeli diplomatic relations at the think-tank Chatham House, he said there had "never been so much hatred and hypocrisy towards the state of Israel in British universities."

He taunted UK higher education institutions for their connection to Middle East dictatorships. He joked acidly that he blamed the British for the unrest in the Middle East as they had been responsible for educating Saif al Islam, the son of Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi and Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

He added that although government relations were good between the two countries, he was worried that relations between the two peoples were less positive.