The good news is that an Employment Tribunal has upheld Professor David
Miller’s plea of unfair dismissal against Bristol University on the grounds that
he was perfectly entitled to use arguments of anti-Zionism.
The full judgement (of 120 pages) can be read here
The
unanimous judgment of the tribunal is:
The
claimant’s anti-Zionist beliefs qualified as a philosophical
belief and as a protected characteristic pursuant to section 10
Equality Act 2010 at the material times.
The
claimant succeeds in claims of direct discrimination because of his
philosophical belief contrary to section 13 Equality Act 2010 in
relation to:
The
claimant succeeds in his claim for unfair dismissal pursuant to
section 98 Employment Rights Act 1996.
The
claimant succeeds in his claim for wrongful dismissal (failure to
pay notice).
The
claim for indirect discrimination is dismissed on withdrawal.
Professor
Miller’s dismissal stemmed from a lecture in 2019 about which 2
Jewish students complained
in which he identified Zionism as one of the five pillars of
Islamophobia, the panel heard. The Community Security Trust, which
campaigns against antisemitism, said Miller’s remarks were a
“disgraceful slur”. According
to one
of few newspapers which bothered to cover the case
A review commissioned by the university found Miller had no case
to answer because he did not express hatred towards Jews. In an
email to the university’s student newspaper sent in February 2021
Miller said: “Zionism is and always has been a racist, violent,
imperialist ideology premised on ethnic cleansing.” In the message
he also claimed the university’s Jewish Society was an “Israel
lobby group”.
A separate review found these statements had been offensive to
many, and in a hearing they were found to be “wrong and inappropriate”.
He was then sacked for gross misconduct, the panel heard.
One prominent Conservative ex-Minister (Sir Alan Duncan) found
himself being accused by his own party of anti-semisitism this year and,
after being cleared, went on to express his view that the party was in the grip of
a strong Israeli lobby -
At a press conference in central London, Duncan went on to
repeat his accusation that his party remained unduly influenced
by people lobbying on behalf of the Israeli government.
“Money, improper influence, and the promotion of Israeli
interests above our own have contributed to the destruction
of the UK’s independent foreign policy,” he said, adding:
“The flow of money and the influence behind the scenes that
attaches to it need to be exposed.” (and here's his recent
tweet about the scale of the Foreign Office capture by
theIsraeli lobby
Many Labour party Mps – including Starmer, Reeves and Lammy – have
received thousands of pounds from that lobby which has actually placed
assistants within the party. The scale of the lobby’s power is revealed in
this long Open Democracy report from 2009
The presence of an Israel lobby as a factor in British public life is
systematically ignored in British reporting. For example, a search of
the newspaper database Lexis Nexis showed there have been only 154
mentions of the Conservative Friends of Israel in the British press,
the first of which was apparently on 22 September 1985.
By contrast The Tobacco Manufacturers Association enjoyed 1,083 citations
during the same period, and the Scotch Whisky Association no fewer
than 2,895. The Conservative Party donor Michael Ashcroft has been the
subject of 2,239 articles over the comparable time period, and the
1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers got over 3,000.
The purpose of this pamphlet is to enquire whether this paucity
of public coverage is indeed a reflection of the real influence of the
pro-Israel lobby in British government
One national newspaper editor told us, “that’s one lobby I’ve never dared
to take on.” From MPs, to senior BBC journalists and representatives of
Britain’s largest charities, the pattern became depressingly familiar.
Material would come flooding out on the phone or in a meeting, but then
days later an email would arrive to say that they would not be able to
take part. One MP taunted the authors that we would never “have the guts”
to make a television programme about the pro-Israel lobby. It was,
he told us, “the most powerful lobby by far in parliament. It’s a big story.
If you have any balls you’ll make a programme about it.”
When we returned to the MP later on to ask if he would talk to us on the
record, he felt unable to come forward and do so. One front bench
Conservative MP was so paranoid he insisted we remove the battery from
our mobile phones to ensure our privacy during the conversation.
It was only senior MPs whose careers are winding down that felt able
to voice what many MPs told us in private. One of them,
Michael Mates, a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee
and former Northern Ireland minister, told us on the record that
“the pro-Israel lobby is the most powerful political lobby.
There’s nothing to touch them.”
Mates added: “I think their lobbying is done very discreetly, in very high
places, which may be why it is so effective.”
Some journalists we spoke to had been accused of antisemitism, and felt
inevitably it had done some damage to their careers. Others, like the
BBC’s Orla Guerin, against whom this very serious and damaging charge
has repeatedly been made by the Israeli government, wouldn’t even talk
to us off the record. It is easy enough to see why. Guerin is a brave,
honest and compassionate reporter. Yet the Israeli government has
repeatedly complained to the BBC that Guerin is “antisemitic” and
showed “total identification with the goals and methods of Palestinian
terror groups.”
Natan Sharansky, a cabinet minister at the time, wrote a formal letter
to the BBC accusing her of “such a gross double standards to the Jewish
state, it is difficult to see Ms Guerin’s report as anything but antisemitic”.
The following year, when Guerin was awarded with an MBE for her reporting
, Sharansky said: “It is very sad that something as important as antisemitism
is not taken into consideration when issuing this award, especially in
Britain where the incidents of antisemitism are on the rise.” Officially
sanctioned smears like this show why so many people shy away from
confronting the influence of the Israel lobby.
The former Conservative Party chairman and shadow foreign secretary,
Michael Ancram, who is standing down as an MP at the next general
election, did have the courage to talk to us. He told us that he had
been accused of antisemitism “because I’ve been talking to Hamas and
Hezbollah. I just take that with a pinch of salt.” The accusation of
antisemitism even touches the least likely of people. Antony Lerman, a
man steeped in Jewish culture and history, who has worked for much of
his career combating antisemitism, was labelled “a nasty anti-Semite”
on a website designed to expose antisemitism on The Guardian’s website,
for an article he wrote during the making of the film. He told us: “I think
there are people who are deliberately manipulating the use of the term
antisemitism because they do see that it’s useful in defending Israel.”
The Conservative Friends of Israel is beyond doubt the best connected,
and probably the best funded, of all Westminster lobbying groups.
Eighty percent of Conservative MPs are members. The leader of the
Conservative Party is often expected to appear at their events, while
the shadow foreign secretary and his team are subjected to persistent
pressure by the CFI.
Labour Friends of Israel has taken more MPs on trips than any other
group. Only the CFI comes close. Since 2001, the LFI has arranged more than
sixty free trips for MPs. LFI and CFI trips combined account for over
13% of all funded trips for MPs and candidates. That’s more trips to Israel,
a country with a population smaller than London’s, than to Europe,
America or Africa. Even in America, where the pro-Israel lobby is
extremely influential, trips to Israel account for only ten percent of all
politicians’ foreign trips.
The group is similarly well connected within the party, and has regular
meetings with David Miliband and his Foreign Office team to make Israel’s
case. Labour MPs told us that young, ambitious MPs see a role at LFI as a
good way to get ahead. Chairs of the LFI very often go on to become
ministers. James Purnell and Jim Murphy, the Secretary of State for
Scotland, are two recent chairmen. Ivan Lewis, the foreign office
minister with responsibility for the Middle East, is a former vice-chair.
The genocide which the Israeli government is inflicting on Gaza and
Lebanon is producing, in the UK and Europe, the largest public demonstrations.
But the violence being shown to the demonstrators (particularly in
Germany) reveals the strength and power of this lobby – as
this Novara podcast reveals
UPDATES
An important article on the complicity of the MSM
Ta-Nihisi Coates responds brilliantly here to provocative questioning from US television about his treatment of Palestine in his new book "The Message"
One of the two people left running for the Tory leadership,
Robert Jenrick,
has said the
Star of David
should be
displayed at every point of entry
to
the UK to show “we stand with Israel”.
He
told a Conservative Friends of Israel
event he wanted Britain to be “the most welcoming country in the world for
Israelis and the Jewish community”. He said that, while immigration minister,
he had pushed for Israelis travelling to Britain to be able to use e-gates.
He said this would mean that at “every airport and point of entry to our
great country”, there was a Star of David, as a “symbol that we support Israel”