Hundreds of university professors in the United Kingdom say they will halt all cooperation with Israeli schools in an effort to draw attention to Israel’s violations of international law.

In a statement released on Tuesday, 343 UK academics announced that they would no longer accept invitations to visit Israeli academic institutions, act as referees in any of their processes, or participate in conferences funded or organised by them.

“We couldn’t have done this five years ago. The change in mood is palpable; many people have been critical of Israel and its policies privately, but until now, many have not thought they wanted to state this publicly,” London School of Economics professor Jonathan Rosenhead, who helped to organise the academic commitment, told Al Jazeera.

“It represents, therefore, a clear shift in the feelings people have about Israel,” he said. “We hope that many more people will sign, and it will help in the process of public education about Israel – and at some point, Israel will start to listen and change their policy.”