Students seeking to silence critic of Israel hit a wall of opposition

David Miller, a lecturer at the University of Bristol, has been accused of antisemitism after suggesting that Israel wants to "impose its will all over the world," and it's "fundamental to Zionism to encourage Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism."

Following Miller's comments, members of the university student club, the 'Jewish Society' started a campaign to get the academic fired, accusing him of antisemitism.

The professor of political sociology went on to accuse the students of being "used as political pawns by a violent, racist foreign regime engaged in ethnic cleansing."

Miller then pointed out the student's open and unequivocal support of Zionism, a political ideology premised on the idea of establishing a homeland for Jews in what was the British mandate of Palestine.

Some have also suggested that Zionism has racist undertones by emphasising heavily on the supremacy of Jews over the land where Palestinians also live.

Many Jewish people do not support Zionism and reject the political ideology. And there are many non-Jewish people, in particular evangelical Christians in America, that subscribe to Zionism.

Now almost 200 leading academics from the United Kingdom and the United States have signed a petition defending the British university lecturer against his critics' attempt to have him fired.

The signatories to the letter published on Friday supporting Miller include the renowned linguist Noam Chomsky and gender theorist Judith Butler, both Jewish Americans.

In the letter, the academics call the campaign against Miller an "attack on academic freedom."

"We condemn antisemitism, Islamophobia and all forms of racism. We are disturbed at attempts to equate Professor Miller's criticisms of the State of Israel and its ideology with antisemitism," the letter went on to say.

The campaign to silence Miller dates back several years.

In 2019, Miller, one of the foremost experts on Islamophobia in Europe, produced an extensive piece of research that connected the Israeli government with Zionist organisations in the UK, which he argued was one of the driving forces of anti-Muslim disinformation in the country.

Miller described Zionism as one of the five pillars of Islamophobia, alongside the UK government counter-terrorism apparatus, the far-right, the neoconservative right and liberal interventionism.

Then, as now, a campaign was started to have the academic fired from his position at the university after some Jewish students from the Jewish Society complained that his powerpoint slides left them "uncomfortable and intimidated."

In 2017 an investigation by Al-Jazeera uncovered that the Israeli government was attempting to infiltrate the UK's student movement in a bid to counter critics.

One of the vehicles used by the Israeli embassy to peddle influence was the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), an umbrella association that connects the more than 64 student Jewish Societies in campuses up and down the country.

A senior political officer at the Israeli embassy in London was funnelling money to the UJS to influence the wider student body, which is represented by the National Union of Students.

UJS is staunchly pro-Zionist and opposed to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement that aims to encourage firms to withdraw their money and investments in Israel as long as it continues to occupy Palestine.

The student Jewish Society at Bristol University is a member of the UJS.

Critics of attempts to oust Miller said, "Groups funded by or working in collaboration with the Israeli government cannot be allowed to succeed in their two-year campaign to have an important political sociologist removed from his post as a professor at Bristol University."