Why is the English Establishment so Zionist?

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:

1. 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.

2. The claimant succeeds in claims of direct discrimination because of his philosophical belief contrary to section 13 Equality Act 2010 in relation to:

3. The claimant succeeds in his claim for unfair dismissal pursuant to section 98 Employment Rights Act 1996.

4. The claimant succeeds in his claim for wrongful dismissal (failure to pay notice).

5. 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.”

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

 Ta-Nihisi Coates responds brilliantly here  to provocative questioning from US television about his treatment of Palestine in his new book "The Message"