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UK Jewish Civil Rights Groups Denounce Ruling Vindicating Disgraced Anti-Zionist Professor David Miller
The University of Bristol campus. Photo: Adrian Pingstone/Wikimedia Commons.
Jewish civil rights groups in the UK on Monday expressed disappointment in a government agency’s ruling that University of Bristol lacked standing to fire sociologist David Miller, an extreme anti-Zionist who was accused of harassing Jewish students and promoting antisemitic tropes.
The decision was rendered by a Bristol-based Employment Tribunal, one of a consortium of agencies which the UK government describes as independent arbitrators of disputes over employment law.
The agency ruled that Miller’s “anti-Zionist beliefs qualified as a philosophical belief and as a protected characteristic” and that “the relationship between [Miller] and the university was not so damaged that trust and confidence was undermined to the extent that the employer should no longer be required to retain [Miller] in employment.” It added, however, that Miller’s “own actions” prompted his firing, citing unbecoming social media activity.
University of Bristol fired Miller in Oct. 2022 after a deluge of incidents and numerous complaints about his conduct in the classroom and on social media. In the months leading up to his dismissal, Miller called for the “end of Zionism” during a lecture and spread conspiracies about British Jewish students, calling them an arm of Israeli intelligence. The conduct had carried on for years, however. In 2018, he castigated Jewish students for expressing discomfort with his employment at the university, denigrating their fears about his statements and rising antisemitism across the UK as “propaganda which they have been schooled with.”
The professor’s remarks have outraged British Jews and non-Jews, drawing condemnations from the Board of Deputies of British Jews and from the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism, a collection of MPs who committed to eradicating antisemitism from public life. In a letter to University of Bristol Vice Chancellor Brady, the MPs charged that Miller had “incited hatred” against Jewish students on campus harmed the university’s reputation.
“UJS is disappointed by the Employment Tribunal’s judgement in relation to David Miller,” the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) said in a statement responding to the ruling. “UJS believes this may set a dangerous precedent about what can be lawfully said on campus about Jewish students and the societies at the centre of their social life.”
“We are extremely concerned about what the Employment Tribunal considers is acceptable for a university professor to say publicly about Jewish students and Jewish societies who raised legitimate complaints about him,” Community Security Trust, a nonprofit that monitors antisemitism, added. “Despite finding in Miller’s favour, the tribunal still said that he was equally to blame for his own dismissal. Since then he has continued to express obnoxious opinions on Iranian State TV, which is exactly where he belongs.”
University of Bristol also expressed disagreement with the agency’s ruling but limited its public comments to defending its determination that Miller could not be retained as a member of the faculty.
“After a full investigation and careful deliberation, the university concluded that Dr. Miller did not meet the standards of behaviour we expect from our staff in relation to comments he made in February 2021 about students and student societies linked to the university,” an official statement issued on Monday said. “As a result and considering our responsibilities to our students and the wider university community, his employment terminated.”
Miller has since touted the ruling as a “landmark judgement” and “victory.”
“I’m proud to say that, with this case, we have proven that anti-Zionist beliefs, of the sort that I articulated, should be protected,” Miller said on X/Twitter. “I hope this case will become a touchstone precedent in all the future battles that we face with the racist and genocidal ideology of Zionism and the movement to which it is attached.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post UK Jewish Civil Rights Groups Denounce Ruling Vindicating Disgraced Anti-Zionist Professor David Miller first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.