Sacked professor wants job back after appeal win

A professor says he is "looking forward" to returning to work at the university which sacked him for his anti-Zionist views and criticism of Israel.

The University of Bristol dismissed Prof David Miller in October 2021 on the grounds he "did not meet the [university's] standards of behaviour" after comments made about Israel.

In 2024 Miller won an appeal against his sacking, and on Tuesday the university lost its challenge against the ruling at an Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT).

Miller said he was also looking forward to being "free to work in higher education without fear of intimidation or reprisal".

A university spokesperson previously said they were "disappointed" with the EAT's decision.

Miller, who worked at the university as a lecturer of political sociology, attracted criticism for a "false, vile… antisemitic slur" in a lecture in 2019.

He made further comments against Zionism at a Campaign for Free Speech event in 2021 and was also criticised by the Bristol Jewish Society.

He later called some Jewish student groups "political lobby groups" and described Jewish students at British universities as "political pawns by a violent, racist foreign regime engaged in ethnic cleansing".

In a subsequent email to a student journalist, he said Zionism "has no place in any society" with the comments leading to the disciplinary process, and subsequently dismissed.

In 2024 an employment tribunal ruled Miller was wrongfully dismissed by the university, after he claimed unfair dismissal, breach of contract and discrimination or victimisation on grounds of religion or belief.

The university appealed against the findings and told the EAT that his anti-Zionist beliefs were political and therefore not protected under the Equality Act.

In a ruling on Tuesday, Lord Fairley, the president of the tribunal, dismissed most of the university's appeal.

He said he saw "no good reason why the beliefs relied upon by the claimant in this case should be excluded from protection simply because they related to an issue of social importance which might, broadly, also be categorised as 'political'".

Miller said: "I'm very pleased the EAT has dismissed the case put forward by the University of Bristol.

"It's a remarkable and extremely welcome vindication of my long fight to defend myself and all those who hold and express anti-Zionist beliefs.

"This judgment has now firmly established that anti-Zionist views are a protected belief under the terms of the Equality Act 2010.

"I now look forward to returning to work as professor of political sociology at the University of Bristol; to have my career reinstated and be free to work in higher education without fear of intimidation or reprisal," he added.

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