David Miller is not the first Bristol University
lecturer to have been targeted by the Zionists – the last time it was a Jewish
Professor, Rachel Gould
Board of Deputies Member Robert Festenstein appears in a Tommy Robinson propaganda Video
Below
is a letter that I have written to Bristol University’s Vice-Chancellor, Hugh Brady, with copies to other senior
administrators. Please consider writing
yourself because you can be sure that if there is one thing that the Zionists are
good at it is getting a letter campaign together.
Also if you are Jewish please sign this letter
and everyone please sign this petition.
At the moment the Zionists have more than twice as many signatories.
Professor Hugh Brady,
Vice-Chancellor,
The University of Bristol,
Beacon House,
Queens Road
Bristol BS8 1QU
Email to: vc-epa@bristol.ac.uk
Dear
Professor Brady,
For
the past 2 years Professor David Miller has been subjected to a relentless
campaign of vilification by Zionist groups, both on and off campus. In the past
week, following his speech at a conference of the Labour
Campaign for Free Speech, these attacks have reached a crescendo.
The
mob attack on David has been led by those well known anti-racist papers, the Daily
Mail and the Jewish
Chronicle.
A
whole gaggle of Zionist groups have joined in the hue and cry including the
Board of Deputies, whose Constitution
mandates it to ‘Take such appropriate action
as lies within its power to advance Israel's security, welfare and standing.’
Another
group in hot pursuit of David is the far-Right Islamaphobic
Campaign Against Anti-Semitism.
Such
is the Board of Deputies’s devotion to Israel that it even justified
Israel’s use of snipers against unarmed Palestinian demonstrators killing 300
people including 50
children as well as a number of medics.
What
was David Miller’s ‘crime’? He called for an end to Zionism. As someone who is
Jewish I join him in this call, as do many Jews. There is nothing anti-Semitic in such a call.
Zionism
is a political not an ethnic or religious creed. Would it seriously be
suggested that someone who calls for an end to socialism, fascism or capitalism
be dismissed?
David
also pointed out that Jewish student societies are in reality Zionist
societies. The Union of Jewish Students,
which is the umbrella
organisation for all 67 J-Socs in
Britain, receives funding from the Israeli Embassy, as Al Jazeera’s The
Lobby revealed.
UJS
is also affiliated to the World Zionist Organisation, which according to Ha'aretz
has a ‘land theft division’. The people whose land it steals are Palestinians.
One
of UJS’s ‘core
values’ is “engagement with Israel’,
which they
‘passionately and proudly’
boast of. Among its Objects
is “inspiring students to making an enduring commitment” to Israel.’
No anti-Zionist or anti-racist Jewish student would go within a mile of UJS or their affiliated societies.
In the light of the vicious attacks on David Miller
by both the media and pro-Israel groups, the least he is entitled to expect is
that Bristol University’s will stand by him and defend free speech.
Yet what has been the response of Bristol’s Administration to date? Have you defended David Miller’s right to speak out on Zionism and Israel without intimidation? No. Instead you have offered to meet David’s student protagonists to discuss the ‘upset’ to them.
Bristol is not located in Israel where people have to be careful what they say. A state where Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour was gaoled for writing a poem calling for resistance.
If, 40 years ago, a Bristol University lecturer had
called for an end to Apartheid in South Africa and had condemned the attacks on
anti-Apartheid activists by supporters of Apartheid on campus, would you have
rushed to reassure the racists of your support?
On
12 January 2021 Israel’s most respected human rights organisation B’Tselem, declared that Israel was ‘A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River
to the Mediterranean Sea’ The refusal
of Israel to vaccinate 5 million Palestinians whilst inoculating Jewish
settlers living in their midst should settle this debate.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated:
“Israel is
not a state of all its citizens. According to the basic nationality law we
passed, Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people – and only it.
Sir
Stephen Sedley, a former Lord Justice of Appeal, who is himself Jewish, explained
that s.43 of the 1986 Education Act places a duty on Bristol to ‘take such steps as are reasonably
practicable to ensure that freedom of speech within the law is secured for
members, students and employees.’
I
was one of the organisers of the Free Speech conference
at which David Miller spoke. Speaking alongside him was noted American
intellectual Norman Finkelstein and Ronnie Kasrils, a Minister in Nelson
Mandela’s government. Both of them are Jewish.
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| Trump exhibits his signing of an Executive Order enabling use of the IHRA in Title VI cases - anti-Semites have no objection to the IHRA since it's not about anti-Semitism |
The
reason why the Board of Deputies and the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism have felt
emboldened to call for the sacking of academics is because you recently adopted
the IHRA
misdefinition of anti-Semitism.
As Stephen Sedley observed,
the IHRA isn’t even a definition, being open ended. Why wasn’t the OED
definition of anti-Semitism: ‘hostility to or prejudice against Jews.’ sufficient?
The
IHRA contains 11 illustrations of ‘anti-Semitism’, 7 of which are about Israel.
Israel is not a Jew and anti-Semitism is not anti-Zionism. Your decision to bow
to Zionist pressure previously has led directly to the current attacks on David
Miller.
Islamaphobia
and Zionism
The
organisations which have been fronting
the current attack on David Miller have particularly objected to his linking of
Zionist organisations and Islamaphobia. Israel itself is vehemently anti- Muslim.
Israel’s liberal Ha'aretz, wrote
about how:
‘The rising
tide of Islamophobia across the world… provides a backdrop for the hatred of
Arabs in present-day Israel. Earlier this month, Channel 8 broadcast the first
episode of Ron Cahlili’s documentary series, “Hate,” about the growing loathing
for Arabs in Israel. Cahlili shows how the call “Death to the Arabs” moved from
the margins to become a ubiquitous ideology that has infiltrated the Israeli
mainstream.
Not
only have the organisations calling for Professor Miller to be sacked covered
for Israel’s Islamaphobia (a plurality
of Israeli Jews support the physical expulsion of Israeli Palestinians) but one
of the most prominent, the CAA
has a long record of inciting racial hatred of Muslims.
In
April 2016 the CAA produced a Report British
Muslims and Anti-Semitism. Its Introduction
spoke of the
‘growing antisemitism amongst British Muslims. On every single count, British Muslims were more likely by far than the general British population to hold deeply antisemitic views. It is clear that many British Muslims reserve a special hatred for British Jews, rating Jews much less favourably than people of other religions or no religion... It has long been suspected that sections of the British Muslim population harboured hatred towards British Jews... the prejudice is horrifyingly widespread.’
On
the cover of the Report was a picture of a Black person holding a ‘Hitler was
right’ poster. Not content with portraying Muslims as genocidal anti-Semites
the CAA also included a profile of a typical Muslim male accompanied by the
caption ‘Sympathetic to terrorism,
extremism and violence.’ If ‘Jew’ had been substituted for ‘Muslim’ then
who could have doubted that this image was anti-Semitic ?
4
years ago another Bristol University academic, Rachel Gould, who was herself
Jewish, was subject to a similar
campaign to that against David Miller. Dr
Gould’s offence had been to write an article ‘Beyond Anti-Semitism’ which described how the memory of the
holocaust was being used to deflect criticism of Israel’s racist policies.
The
CAA wrote
to you demanding that Dr Gould ‘should be
required… to publicly retract her article.’ If however she refused to do so
then ‘she should be dismissed, and her
dismissal should be made public so as to clearly signal the University of
Bristol’s values.’ These are the people you are currently appeasing.
Kenneth
Stern, an American academic who was the main author of the IHRA, declared in testimony
to the US Congress that the CAA’s behaviour was ‘egregious’ and that ‘the
exercise itself was chilling and McCarthy-like.’ Instead of sending the CAA
away with a flea in their ear Bristol University then conducted an inquiry into
this bogus complaint putting Dr Gould under enormous stress. It is little
wonder that she departed for Birmingham University soon after.
None
of this stopped Sir Eric Pickles, a Cabinet member from describing Gould’s
article as ‘one of the worst cases of
Holocaust denial”. A claim Bristol
Live called
‘ridiculous and inflammatory.’
The CAA has waged similar
campaigns against a host of academics, most of them Jewish. Richard
Falk, an American emeritus professor
at Princeton University and UN
Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian
territories was also subject to the CAA’s attentions. The CAA boasted
that
‘following
intervention by Campaign Against Antisemitism, the university (Middlesex) has now decided to cancel the event.’ This
development comes hours after the University of East London took action to
stop another event at which Falk was due to speak.’
Emeritus Professor Moshe
Machover of King’s College was also a victim of the CAA’s McCarthyisn. Machover
was falsely accused of having ‘accused
Jewish students of being under the control of the Israeli embassy’. A
similar accusation to that against David Miller.
The
CAA’s letter to to Queen Mary College could have been written by Joe McCarthy.
They wrote
‘to ascertain
why Professor Machover was allowed to speak and lodge a complaint, and have
additionally written to King’s College London and the London School of
Economics to ascertain his employment status, and request that disciplinary
proceedings be instigated.’
The
chutzpah (impudence) of an external organisation demanding to know why a
distinguished professor was allowed to speak at a university is illustrative of
the contempt of Zionist organisations for free speech. You Professor Grady have
only encouraged them.
On
no occasion have the gaggle of Zionist organisations currently targeting David
Miller dissociated themselves from the CAA’s tactics.
Marie
van der Zyl, President of the Board of Deputies, in her letter to Bristol
University said
of Professor Miller that his ‘rants
would not look out of place on the pages of Der Sturmer’, a Nazi tabloid.’
Anyone with any acquaintance with Julius
Streicher’s rabidly anti-Semitic pornographic paper would know what a malicious
smear this is. Yet instead of terminating the correspondence Bristol University
has encouraged this type of rancid complaint, stating
that:
“We have received a significant number of calls for
Professor David Miller to be dismissed.
“UK law requires that we, like all employers, act in
accordance with our internal procedures and the ACAS code of conduct.’
UK employment law does not oblige any employer,
least of all a university, to entertain malicious complaints about their employees.
This statement is disingenuous.
Mark Gardener of the CST, a Zionist organisation with links to
Israel’s Mossad, which collects information on Jewish anti-Zionists (they sent
me a file of over 300 pages as a result of a Subject Access Request) accused
Professor Miller of a ‘vile slur’ for
accusing Zionist organisations of Islamaphobia. Yet
this isn’t the first time that the CST has been accused
of Islamaphobia.
Another
of the organisations accused of Islamaphobia is the Jewish National Fund. The
JNF, which owns and controls 93% of Israeli land, refuses to rent or lease this
land to non-Jews. It operates solely for the benefit of the ‘Jewish people’. Gideon
Levy of Ha'aretz described
how Avraham Duvdevani Chair of the JNF,
prevented a Jew having to sell land to an Arab by getting the JNF to buy the
land. Thus keeping it for the Jewish people. The CST considers this policy of
‘Jewish land’ perfectly acceptable.
The
Board of Deputies which is leading the attack on Miller is riddled with
Islamaphobia and anti-Arab racists. Roslyn Pine, a deputy for Finchley United
Synagogue, shared
tweets describing Muslims as “the vilest
of animals” calling Arabs “so evil”.
Although she was suspended for 6 years by the Board she was later quietly
readmitted.
The
Jewish Chronicle described
how Robert Festenstein appeared
alongside Tommy Robinson ‘in a
politically motivated video made for a right-wing media website.’ Festenstein was introduced by
Robinson as ‘a legal adviser’. The
Board didn’t even bother to call Festenstein, the Deputy for Prestwich
synagogue, to account because it knew that once it set out on this road it
would have few members left.
None of this should be of any surprise. The Constitution of the Board mandates it to‘Take
such appropriate action as lies within its power to advance Israel's security,
welfare and standing.’ Not once has it
condemned Israeli war crimes such as the practice of imprisoning Palestinian children as young as 12 or demolishing
Palestinian homes. Even Tory Minister James Cleverly condemned the demolition of Humsa
Al-Baqai’a, a village which housed 73 people, including 41 children, who are
now homeless.
Using the English Language Correctly
I
am sure you will be aware, as a senior academic, of how important it is to use
the English language correctly. When someone is accused of anti-Semitism then
this is a term that should be used accurately and not used to defend the
abuse of Palestinian human rights. Anti-Semitism is about hatred,
hostility and discrimination against Jews as Jews not hatred or opposition to
Zionism.
When
Zionist students at Bristol University say they feel ‘unsafe’ because of a speech
made by Professor Miller at a conference that none of them even attended, what
they are doing is using the English language as a weapon of deceit. Perhaps
these snowflakes should spend a few days on the West Bank where they might come
to appreciate exactly what the word ‘unsafe’ really means. Since the Administration of Bristol
University is too timid to enlighten them perhaps I might give you an
indication of what this word means:
·
unsafe
is not knowing when your house is going to be bulldozed
·
unsafe
is not knowing if your child will return from the shops because he/she may
become a victim of an Israeli sniper
·
unsafe
is not knowing if you are going to be arrested everyday for just being of a
different ethnicity
·
unsafe
is not knowing if you'll have any water today because the tank may get riddled
with bullets
· unsafe is when you have to pay a $20,000 fine for a bulldozer that has destroyed your village. This practice originated with the Nazis. Jews who were deported to Auschwitz had to pay the cost of the trains that took them to their deaths.
· unsafe is when in order to get to your class at Bir Zeit university you have to negotiate army checkpoints at any of which you could be harassed and delayed.
· unsafe is not knowing what has happened to your 12 year old child after he had been arrested in the early hours of the morning, blindfolded with painful plastic handcuffs put on him, deprived of food and water for hours and then subject to violence by armed soldiers.
· Unsafe is not knowing whether your girl, who has been taken by the Israeli military will be one of those 40% of girls subject to sexual abuse.
 |
| An Israeli flag flies along with Confederate flags amid a sea of neo-Nazi proud boys. Most fascist groups today see Israel as a model Islamaphobic state |
Members
of Bristol J-Soc don’t know the meaning of the word ‘unsafe’ and neither it
would appear do you. Below is the description
of one such arrest by Amnesty International (a group described
by Donald Trump as ‘anti-Semitic’).
At about 2am on 24 October, a dozen Israeli police,
armed with machine guns, came to arrest Bakr Sa'id, a 15 year old boy, at his
home in Kufar Kana. Four armed police officers went to where Bakr Sa'id was
sleeping and arrested the boy. Bakr Sa'id was reportedly interrogated for several
hours in the early morning by three interrogators in civilian clothes who
shouted and threatened him. Later in the day he was brought to court, but his
father was not allowed to speak to him. Another detainee in court said he saw a
police officer slap Bakr Sa'id in the face.
A Report
for UNICEF on the treatment of Palestinian Children in Israeli Military
Detention describes a standard interrogation of children, who are not allowed
access to lawyers or their parents.
The interrogation mixes intimidation, threats and
physical violence, with the clear purpose of forcing the child to confess.
Children are restrained during the interrogation, in some cases to the chair
they are sitting on. This sometimes continues for extended periods of time, resulting
in pain to their hands, back and legs. Children have been threatened with
death, physical violence, solitary confinement and sexual assault, against themselves or a family member.
Of
course such treatment would not be meted out to Jewish children. This is why
Israel is an Apartheid police state for Palestinians.
Your
students’ description of themselves as ‘unsafe’ should be treated with
contempt. The only question is whether you have the honesty and integrity to call out these
false accusations against Professor Miller for the lies that they are. Academic
freedom is something that people have given their lives for in other countries.
Do you have the courage to stand up to these orchestrated smears against a
member of staff or are you going to appease these apologists for Israeli war
crimes?
Yours
sincerely,
Tony
Greenstein
cc.
Prof Sarah Purdy, Pro Vice Chancellor Student Experience, pvc-studentexperience@bristol.ac.uk
Prof. Tansy Jessop, pvc-education@bristol.ac.uk, Pro Vice Chancellor Student Education
Mr Jack Boyer, Chair, Board of Trustees, governance@bristol.ac.uk
Dr Moira Hamlin, Vice-Chair, Board of Trustees, governance@bristol.ac.uk
Judith Squires, Provost, provost@bristol.ac.uk
Jane Bridgwater, Director of Legal Services jane.bridgwater@bristol.ac.uk
Prof. Simon Tormey, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Law wp19124@bristol.ac.uk
