David Miller, the embattled professor at the University of Bristol, who was fired for antisemitic comments, has been interviewed by Richard Medhurst, an Israel-hating “independent journalist,” who is wearing a keffiyeh just to remind you how much he hates Israel.
Medhurst provides Miller with the platform to defend himself against the accusations of antisemitism. Yet try as he may, Miller just proves he is indeed an anti-Jewish bigot.
How so? Well, one of Miller’s arguments is he was not targeting Jewish student groups, just Zionist ones. He mentions the Union of Jewish Students in the UK, which he says is explicitly Zionist in its constitution.
The Union of Jewish Students in the UK is literally “the voice of over 8,500 Jewish students, spanning over 65 Jewish Societies on campuses across the UK and Ireland.”
We are the Union of Jewish Students, the voice of over 8,500 Jewish students, spanning 69 Jewish Societies (J-Socs) on campuses across the UK and Ireland. We are traditional, progressive, cultural and spiritual; we come from the left, centre and right and can be found across religious and political spectrums.
Guided by our core values, the priorities of our elected President and policy passed at UJS Conference, together we create and deliver powerful campaigns; fighting prejudice, advancing inclusion, and inspiring education and action on the issues that matter to us.
Locally, nationally and internationally, we run diverse and dynamic programmes; provide access to kosher food and accommodation; and passionately engage with Israel, interfaith, and social action projects.
For over 100 years, we’ve been leading, defending and enriching Jewish student life across the UK and Ireland, and we’re proud to be the voice of Jewish students.
That’s right. UJS precedes the state of Israel. And while Israel is mentioned as part of their core values, it is in the context of connecting students with their Jewish and Hebrew culture.
Engagement with Israel: we passionately and proudly connect our students with over 3000 years of Jewish and Hebrew culture, offering opportunities to strengthen, celebrate and explore a personal relationship with Israel as part of an evolving expression of Jewish identity
By ignoring UJS’ essence and focusing on the fact it promotes Jewish students engaging with their Jewish culture and thus Israel, Miller conveniently tries to dismiss the entire organization as Zionist-not-Jewish. And this is essentially the lynchpin of his defense: I speak only of Zionists, not Jews. Yet he ignores the fact that the vast majority of Jews believe in Israel as the Jewish homeland, and Judaism itself is Zionist in nature.
Then Miller explains what he means by calling for the end of Zionism:
Besides inaccurately defining what Zionism is (and falsely claiming we would agree with his definition), he makes the slanderous allegation that Zionism has to have anti-Arab racism at its core. And while he claims he means eradicating the ideology, it is clear this necessitates the eradication of the Jewish state, which he sees as entirely illegitimate.
Miller also speaks about how the “Zionist” lobby is the most powerful lobby, transnational in nature. Besides not even being true, he plays into the antisemitic trope of a worldwide cabal of Jews controlling things. He even gets sloppy and refers both to the Jewish Holocaust (while making a point to mention others were also killed by the Nazis), as well as the diaspora (which really only refers to Jewish communities outside of Israel).
Later on, Miller gets sloppy again, referring to the Jewish Chronicle. Must be a purely Zionist rag!
Note how he also mentioned the right of palestinians to “resist occupation.” One can only imagine what “resistance” activities he supports.
So there you have it; yet another example of an anti-Zionist-not-antisemite finding it too difficult to keep up the pretense.
