Mick Hartley

Sacked and disgraced Bristol academic David Miller has won his case, with an emplotyment tribunal ruling that anti-Zionism is a protected characteristic.

Anti-Zionist academic David Miller has claimed victory against the University of Bristol in a landmark employment case which determined that anti-Zionism is a protected characteristic in the workplace.

Miller was sacked by Bristol University in October 2021 after making comments about Israel which some deemed to be antisemitic. The university said his comments did not meet its "standards of behaviour", and Jewish students said Miller made them feel “unsafe and unprotected” on campus.

Since then, Miller has described Israel as “the enemy of world peace” and has called the Jewish Society at Bristol University an “Israel lobby group” that had “manufactured hysteria” about his teaching….

During the tribunal, he claimed that he had experienced discrimination based on his “philosophical belief that Zionism is inherently racist, imperialist, and colonial, a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, alongside a finding of unfair dismissal."

The Bristol Employment Tribunal found that Miller’s anti-Zionist beliefs “qualified as a philosophical belief and as a protected characteristic”, protected under the 2010 Equality Act.

Miller also succeeded in his claims of unfair dismissal, but the disgraced academic had his compensation reduced by half because his sacking was “caused or contributed to by his own actions”, according to the tribunal.

It's not hard to see why the tribunal might reach that decision. In a sense, no doubt, anti-Zionism is a political position that can be defended. The point is: can anti-Zionism ever be separated from antisemitism – and the answer in Miller's case is clearly no.

Miller, who now works for the Iranian state-owned TV channel Press TV, said he felt “vindicated” and was "very proud” that the case “establish[ed] that anti-Zionist views qualify as a protected belief under the UK Equality Act.”

Zillur Rahman from Rahman Lowe Solicitors who represent Miller applauded the ruling saying:  “His courage in fighting against the vicious campaign that was waged against him by Zionists” describing Miller as “trailblazer.”

Rahman went on, "the genocide Israel is committing at present, has woken the world up to the very belief David holds and was manifesting, which is that Zionism is inherently racist and must be opposed.”

Nice. And now people like Miller, and Zillur Rahman here, will feel vindicated by the tribunal's decision to ramp up these kind of comments. We might think it's blatantly antisemitic to rant on about the "genocide" in Gaza, but the Free Palestine anti-Israel crowd will clearly see it as a green light for upping the rhetoric.

A sad day.

The Union of Jewish students said: “UJS is disappointed by the Employment Tribunal's judgment in relation to David Miller. UJS believes this may set a dangerous precedent about what can be lawfully said on campus about Jewish students and the societies at the centre of their social life, which may ultimately make Jewish students less safe.”

Jewish security group the CST said: “We are extremely concerned about what the Employment Tribunal considers is acceptable for a University Professor to say publicly about Jewish students and Jewish Societies who raised legitimate complaints about him.

“He has continued to express his obnoxious opinions on Iranian State TV, which is exactly where he belongs.”