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Voice of the Jewish News: Miller wins appeal, not the argument
The University of Bristol's abysmally stupid legal strategy allowed its former lecturer to snatch a success, but one which is thankfully unlikely to be easily replicated
A decision by an Employment Tribunal Appeal panel to uphold a previous ruling relating to the case of David Miller has, predictably, led to celebration from his supporters and deep frustration from his detractors.
Miller’s deeply repulsive statements are well-known within our community, and so the latest judgment is a deeply unwelcome one. It is also, however, not nearly as bad as Miller’s minions would like to make out.
As one might expect, the main claim from the former academic, amplified by every single pro-Iranian regime ‘news’ outlet and pressure group in the country, is that thanks to him, “anti-Zionism” is now a protected characteristic. As one might also expect, this is not, strictly speaking, true. What Miller did was show that an anti-Zionist can expect to win an employment tribunal case if they claim to hold a very specific set of sub-beliefs – not opposing or holding antipathy towards Jews or Judaism, and not supportive of nor ‘open to’ the use of violence as a means of opposing Zionism – and crucially, are not challenged on such claims at the tribunal by their former employer.
The University of Bristol’s decision not to do this was incredibly foolish, and meant that when they tried to introduce further evidence at the appeal stage to challenge Miller’s depiction of the nature of his anti-Zionism, they were prevented from doing so.
So if you are an anti-Zionist with a long list of public posts that may cause people to question the sincerity of the exact nature of your belief, and you believe the institution will conduct the same abysmally stupid legal strategy as Bristol did, then you may be in luck. If not, then this may not be the precedent you’re hoping it is.
There is also a silver lining to this ruling, which Miller was somehow reticent to highlight. If, under certain very specific circumstances, anti-Zionism can be cited as a protected characteristic, so too can Zionism itself. Before its autumn conference, the Green party might be wise to note the ramifications of that on its own policy.
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