Bristol University Professor Sacked for Anti-Zionist Views Wins Discrimination Case

Professor David Miller outside Bristol Civil Justice Centre, in Bristol, England, on Oct. 17, 2023. (Ben Birchall/PA Wire)

A sacked university academic has successfully claimed at an employment tribunal that he experienced discrimination based on his anti-Zionist beliefs.

Professor David Miller was “unfairly dismissed” from his post at Bristol University in 2021 following remarks he made about Israel, an employment tribunal has ruled.

At the conclusion of proceedings, Mr. Miller successfully claimed discrimination “based on his philosophical belief that Zionism is inherently racist, imperialist, and colonial, a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010,” his legal representatives, Rahman Lowe, announced on Monday.

“This judgment establishes for the first time ever that anti-Zionist beliefs are protected in the workplace,” the firm said.

According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Zionism’s general definition means “the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel.”

Philosophical Belief

To qualify as a philosophical belief under the Equality Act, the belief must satisfy five criteria, some of which include that the belief must be “genuinely held ”and “not simply be an opinion or viewpoint based on the present state of information available.”

The belief must be proved to be a core and consistent part of a person’s life. Some protected beliefs include that biological sex is “real, important, and immutable,” as well as humanism, atheism, spiritualism, and even veganism.

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Mr. Miller is the producer and co-host of the “Palestine Declassified” show on Press TV, an Iranian state-owned news network, which was forced off the air when the UK media regulator Ofcom revoked its licence in 2012.

After his legal win on Tuesday, Mr. Miller reposted a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, by the Communist Party of Great Britain, which said that “the Zionist movement cannot be negotiated with - it must be defeated.”

In a statement, he said that he was “very proud” to have established that anti-Zionist views qualify as a protected belief.

“I am extremely pleased that the Tribunal has concluded that I was unfairly and wrongfully dismissed by the University of Bristol,” he said.

“I am also very proud that we have managed to establish that anti-Zionist views qualify as a protected belief under the UK Equality Act.

“This was the most important reason for taking the case and I hope it will become a touchstone precedent in all the future battles that we face with the racist and genocidal ideology of Zionism and the movement to which it is attached.

“The determination that I was sacked for my anti-Zionist views is a huge vindication of my case all the way through this process.

“The University of Bristol maintained that I was sacked because Zionist students were offended by my various remarks, but it was plain from the evidence of its own witnesses that this was untrue, and it was the anti-Zionist nature of my comments which was the decisive factor.”

‘Deeply Concerned’

Reacting to the decision, the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We are deeply concerned by the way in which the University of Bristol has handled this matter over the course of years. We hope and expect that Bristol will appeal this decision. We are considering the matter with our lawyers.”

The University of Bristol said in a statement that it acknowledges the judgment of the tribunal but is “disappointed with its findings.”

“After a full investigation and careful deliberation, the university concluded that Dr Miller did not meet the standards of behaviour we expect from our staff in relation to comments he made in February 2021 about students and student societies linked to the university.

“As a result and considering our responsibilities to our students and the wider university community, his employment was terminated.

“We recognise that these matters have caused deep concern for many, and that members of our community hold very different views from one another.

“We would, therefore, encourage everyone to respond in a responsible and sensitive way in the current climate.”

Common Law Free Speech

Last year, lawyers debated the use of Equality Act in employment tribunals that require proving a religious belief system, as a method to safeguard freedom of expression.

At the time, Anna Loutfi, barrister and head of legal at the Bad Law Project told The Epoch Times that protected belief free speech wins could result in short-term gains.

She warned that if all protected speech has to fall into a religion-like belief system, then this will pave the way for “a kind of secular theocracy.”

She also said that “now we’ve got a culture that is totally dominated by the concept of anti-discrimination, equality, and inclusion, which is policy everywhere in the public and private sectors.”

“It’s just moved the conversation to a framework where legislation and policy that deals with equality, inclusion, and anti-discrimination has become the framework for understanding speech,” she added.

“If you move to a codified system, you can do what the law tells you can do, there’s no presumption of liberty,” she warned.

PA Media contributed to this report.