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BRICUP members resign in suport of Prof. David Miller

Three members of BRICUP resign their membership in reaction to the letter issued by BRICUP, accusing Miller of posting an antisemitic text on Tweeter. The three have issued the following statement:



NOTE FOR DAVID MILLER TRIBUNAL
 
We, as academics and until recently members of the British Campaign for the Universities of Palestine, (BRCUP), are writing in support of Professor David Miller. He is now facing an Employment Tribunal looking at his complaint against unfair dismissal by the University of Bristol.
 
Professor Miller's dismissal had followed on two legal inquiries by a QC appointed by the University of Bristol, where he was a professor of Political Sociology, looking into accusation of antisemitism against him, over the period since September 2019; Both inquiries cleared Prof. Miller, finding that he could not be accused of antisemitism. The university, under pressure by pro-Zionist lobby organisations, has ignored the finding of its own legal experts and sacked Prof. Miller, despite having no proof for its serious accusations.
 
Prof Miller is now under attack again for his tweet of August 7, 2023, on the allegation that it was antisemitic. We do not agree the tweet was antisemitic or counter-factual but see it as a part of an ongoing campaign of persecution of Professor Miller for his critical stance on the state of Israel. When our own organisation, Bricup, joined the ranks of his antisemitism accusers, the three of us resigned in protest.
 
We find David Miller's persecution reprehensible and astonishing at a moment when more than half of the Israeli population is questioning the policies and actions of the Israeli government; when senior Israeli politicians, ex-generals and former Mossad and Shabak chiefs are combining to condemn Israeli Apartheid - despite the fact they were part of the state which set it up;  and when international commentators and pundits condemn the process of Normalisation of Israel's extremist government.  
 
David Miller is not guilty of any crime and did not deserve to be dismissed from his post by the university. That some university students felt uncomfortable or upset by Professor Miller is not sufficient grounds for depriving him of his livelihood and reputation.
 
We urge the Tribunal to overthrow his dismissal.
Signed
Dr Ghada Karmi,
Prof. Haim Bresheeth-Žabner
Dr Govindarajan Driver

The Jewish Chronicle tries to defame Dr. Stephen Sizer - JNP reacts

Dr. Stephen Sizer, author of a number of books on Christian Zionism and Chair of Peacemakers, has been under attack by a number of Zionist publications for his principled support on Palestinian Rights. Recently, a long article full of false claims has been published and the Jewish Chronicle has reported this calumny as facts. The letter of JNP Chair, David Cannon, is copied below. Stephen books can be found on Amazon:

Christian Zionism: Road-Map to Armageddon? (2004) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Christian-Zionism-Armageddon-Stephen-Sizer/dp/1844740501/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Stephen+Sizer&qid=1630177677&sr=8-1

Zion's Christian Soldiers: The Bible, Israel and the Church (2018) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zions-Christian-Soldiers-Israel-Church-ebook/dp/B07JVGRZGF/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Stephen+Sizer&qid=1630177677&sr=8-2


Letter to the Editor of Jewish Chronicle

Stephen Pollard
Jewish Chronicle Media Limited
1st Floor One London Wall
London EC2Y 5EB

24th August 2021

re Stephen Sizer

Your demonisation of Stephen Sizer as antisemitic has no basis. I have heard Stephen speak passionately to promote equal human rights for all on many occasions. His writings promote peace, justice and, indeed, love. Likewise the Peacemaker Trust explicitly seeks "...to be a catalyst for peacemaking, especially where minorities are persecuted, where justice is denied, human rights are suppressed or reconciliation is needed".
Stephen has worked closely with Jewish Network for Palestine (JNP) to promote equal rights for all in Israel/Palestine. In fact, Stephen is pictured in front of JNP’s banner on Peacemaker Trust 'welcome' web-page; https://peacemakers.ngo.
I have Jewish heritage and was brought up to admire the creation of Israel. I now realise that Israel is founded on violent racist colonial theft and is sustained by violent racist apartheid. Zionism is racism, so criticising the Israeli state is anti-racist, not antisemitic.
Yours sincerely, David Cannon; on behalf of Jewish Network for Palestine.

Guardian shows its ugly face

The Guardian shows its ugly face



After years of acting as the whipping-boy for the Israeli lobby, and hounding Jeremy Corbyn as a supposed antisemite, the Guardian has agreed to publish letter from many left-wing Jews, including many from Jewish Network for Palestine, giving the lie to the orchestrated anti-Corbyn campaign and reminding readers that they should never confuse anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Heading the signatory list were Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Ed Asner and Richard Falk.
We were quite pleasantly surprised by this turnaround by the Guardian, needless to say. Has the leopard the changed its spots? Has the Guardian decided to allow the truth to be published on its pages?
Our pleasure lasted only few hours. The letter was summarily removed from the Guardian website, as if it had never existed. Such creative editing of history is worthy of Stalinist Russia, to be sure. Unfortunately for the Guardian, the many printed copy carried the letter. Maybe they should also have collected these from all readers? There is always the next time…

The image below of the printed letter serves to prove the fickle nature of the editorial staff, and the power of the Israel lobby to even remove already-published material.


Guardian 1

JNP Call to the Leader of the Labour Party

Defend Chris Williamson MP against the pro-Israel racist agenda

Jewish Network for Palestine is deeply disturbed by the way the Labour Party has treated Chris Williamson MP over the last few weeks.

It is dishonest to imply that his comments were antisemitic.  In fact he rightly said: 
“The party that has done more to stand up to racism is now being demonised as a racist, bigoted party. I have got to say, I think our party is partly responsible for that. In my opinion we have backed off far too much; we have given too much ground; we’ve been too apologetic. We’ve done more to address the scourge of antisemitism than any other party”. 
Williamson was accurately describing the situation whereby the party caved in to the pro-Israel Lobby's pressures, suspended him and started an unjustified inquiry, which found no evidence of antisemitic behaviour. After few hours,  again under mass media and Lobby pressure, Williamson was again suspended. This is unjust behaviour, denying Williamson (and other MPs) natural justice and a proper process. 

Chris Williamson’s case illustrates how accusations about antisemitism have silenced criticism of Israel.  This silencing has been normalised and enforced through the so-called IHRA definition of antisemitism, whose examples falsely equate criticism of Israel with antisemitism.  The IHRA definition serves a doubly racist agenda: it links Jews' self-determination with a racist state, prohibits calling it a 'racist endeavour', and thus censors Palestinians' national narrative of their racist-colonialist dispossession.  The same racist agenda is served by false allegations of antisemitism against pro-Palestine activists, as well as by long suspensions of Labour Party members beyond due process. 

Everyone has a right (even a duty) to oppose illegal and immoral behaviour wherever they find it. The right to criticise governments or political organisations is part of the right to freedom of expression, enshrined in the  United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A). The declaration clearly states:
Article 18.       
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.       
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

This right is also enshrined in British and European law. Yet the Labour Party is shamefully persecuting its MPs courageous enough to defy the Israel Lobby's racist agenda. Jewish Network for Palestine calls upon the Labour Party to end the suspension immediately and apologise to Chris Williamson MP.

Jewish Network for Palestine, 4 July 2019

David Cannon, Chair and Linda Anne Speight, Vice Chair for the JNP Steering Group


To add your signature to this call, please use this link: 

https://forms.gle/RFGUaxT3d8nYCL5w9