“[Israel] is imposing their will all over the world,” he said during his speech. “The enemy we face here is Zionism and the imperial policies of the Israeli state.”
By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
Bristol University Professor David Miller slammed Israel, Zionism, and Jewish student groups during a Campaign For Free Speech Zoom lecture last Saturday, The Jewish Chronicle reports.
“[Israel] is imposing their will all over the world,” he said during his speech. “The enemy we face here is Zionism and the imperial policies of the Israeli state.
“It’s not enough to say Zionism is racism, Israel is a settler colonial society. The aim of this is not only to say things but to end settler colonialism in Palestine, to end Zionism as a functioning ideology of the word.”
Miller, who teaches sociology, has a long history of making anti-Israel comments. He was suspended from the UK Labour Party last year after blasting Sir Keir Starmer for “taking Zionist money.”
The suspension, Miller said, confirmed “the degree of influence that Zionist advocates and lobbyists for Israel have over disciplinary processes and Party policy.” He did not apologize for his remarks.
A number of his past statements led to formal complaints from Jewish student groups at Bristol University. During Saturday’s speech, Miller suggested that such complaints were an impingement on his academic freedom.
“These kinds of complaints are being made over the country – one against me in Bristol and there’s been one made in Warwick….we will continue to see this drive to stop anyone speaking out [for] Palestine or having any critical account of Zionism as racism, as settler colonialism,” he said.
“Free speech is not the main problem here, it is a problem but not the main problem…It’s an all-out onslaught by the Israeli government….It’s a question of how we defeat the ideology of Zionism in practice. How do we make sure Zionism is ended essentially. There’s no other way of saying that.”
Last week, a report from Vice Magazine revealed that Jewish students feel their concerns about Miller are being ignored by the university’s administration.
“It’s been a year and a half since the first day we made a complaint, and we still are in the dark. And still, even with the emotional toll of 18 months, the university has offered no emotional support,” a student named Sabrina told Vice.
“The only support we’ve ever got is from specifically Jewish charities and organizations. It’s been made the responsibility of Jewish charities to look after Jewish students. If charities weren’t funding this, then it will be no emotional support for those students experiencing anti-semitism. The university doesn’t know what Jewish students need, they don’t try to know. We’ve been left in the dark.”