Anti-Zionist views protected in landmark tribunal ruling

A TRIBUNAL has made a landmark ruling that antiZionism is a legally protected characteristic as it found in favour of a sacked university professor.

David Miller was ‘unfairly dismissed’ from his post at Bristol University following remarks he made about Israel, it said.

The 108-page ruling found that expressing anti-Zionist views is a ‘ philosophical belief and a protected characteristic’ under the 2010 Equality Act.

This sets a legal precedent that anyone expressing anti-Zionist beliefs is legally protected and cannot be sacked from their jobs.

The Union of Jewish Students said it was ‘disappointed’ by the decision which ‘may set a dangerous precedent about what can be lawfully said on campus’. It warned the ruling would ‘make Jewish students less safe’.

Professor Miller was sacked in 2021 after it was found his comments did not meet the ‘standards of behaviour’ expected from staff. This followed complaints by Jewish students who claimed he made them feel ‘uncomfortable and intimidated’.

The first was made in 2019 after he gave a lecture describing the ‘Zionist movement’ as one of the ‘five pillars of Islamophobia’. On the Electronic Intifada website, he also wrote: ‘There is a real question of abuse here, of Jewish students on British campuses being used as political pawns by a violent, racist foreign regime engaged in ethnic cleansing.’

In an ‘on the record’ email to Ben Bloch, a student and news editor of The Bristol Tab university newspaper, the professor said: ‘Zionism is and always has been a racist, violent, imperialist ideology premised on ethnic cleansing. It is an endemically anti-Arab and Islamophobic ideology. It has no place in any society.’

Since being dismissed, the professor, who works for Iranian state- owned television channel Press TV, has described Israel as ‘the enemy of world peace’.

He has also claimed that ‘Jews are not discriminated against’ and described the Bristol University Jewish Society as an ‘ Israel lobby group’.

Professor Miller said he felt ‘vindicated’ and ‘ very proud’ at the employment tribunal’s ruling from Judge Rohan Pirani. He added: ‘This is not just a victory for me, but also a victory for pro-Palestine campaigners across Britain.’

Zillur Rahman, of Rahman Lowe Solicitors which represented the academic, praised him for ‘fighting against the vicious campaign waged against him by Zionists’.

Last night the Community Security Trust, a Jewish charity, said it was ‘ extremely concerned about what the tribunal considers is acceptable for a university professor to say publicly about Jewish students and Jewish societies who raised legitimate complaints about him’.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism said it was ‘ deeply concerned’ at the way the university handled the case and hoped it would appeal against the ruling.

A spokesman added that Professor Miller ‘ has continued to express his obnoxious opinions on Iranian State TV, which is exactly where he belongs’.

‘Students used as political pawns’