Disgraced academic David Miller has been condemned for claiming that Jews are overrepresented in positions of power and do not face discrimination.
The sociologist, who was sacked by the University of Bristol after an investigation found he had breached behavioural standards, made the controversial comments on X, formerly known as Twitter.
He said: “If you are not Jewish, do not be cowed by racial supremacists who want to hector you into political subservience.
“Judeophobia barely exists these days. Educate yourself about Zionism and the tactics used by its adherents.”
He added: “The facts: 1. Jews are not discriminated against.
“2. They are over-represented in Europe, North America and Latin America in positions of cultural, economic and political power.
“3. They are therefore in a position to discriminate against actually marginalised groups.”
Miller has since said he will begin drawing up lists of overrepresented Jews.
"Please could you provide a detailed list with names/positions they hold re. their being members of an over-represented group," a Twitter user asked. "A second column in the list could be for any gentiles involved."
The sociologist responded: "Coming shortly!"
In May, Miller made similar claims in an interview broadcast on YouTube. He claimed then: "Classical antisemitism doesn't really exist in our society anymore, beyond a few pockets on the far right and even the far right’s been moving en bloc in the last 20 years away from hatred of the Jews towards fanboying towards Israel and replacing the Jews as their bete noire with the bete noire de jour, which, of course, in the last 20 years since 9/11 has been the Muslims.”
The former academic's claims sparked widespread outrage online from Jewish organisations.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of America’s Anti-Defamation League, said: “David Miller is a textbook case of a toxic antisemite dressed up as an anti-Israel activist.
He added: “It's disappointing that anyone takes Miller seriously when his hateful rhetoric is replete with so many overt and ugly stereotypes about inordinate Jewish power and our supposed malign influence.
“The dissemination of his work doesn’t enrich the world; it impoverishes the public conversation with lies and poisons society with hate.”
CST Head of Policy Dave Rich said: “This is just one example of how Miller's version of anti-Zionism is indistinguishable from antisemitism, and is expressed through anti-Jewish language and ideas.
“It's antisemitism in anti-Zionist guise, focused on Jews in the diaspora, not Israeli policies and actions.”
Left-wing critics of Israel also condemned Miller’s comments.
David Miller with his web of Jewish people and organisations (Photo: CU)
Guardian columnist Owen Jones wrote: “This is straightforward antisemitism. Here is the problem with those who treated any accusation of antisemitism as a witch hunt: they ended up defending people like this, blinding themselves to glaringly obvious red flags.”
Poet Michael Rosen said: "Seems like David Miller has outed himself as an antisemite."
Anti-Zionist Jewish campaign group Jewdas added: “Perhaps the Jews who are overrepresented in mathematics could calculate the ideal representation of Jews in positions of cultural, political and economic power?”
Miller was sacked by the University of Bristol in October 2021 following an investigation which lasted several months after he claimed the Jewish society on campus were “being used as political pawns by a violent, racist foreign regime engaged in ethnic cleansing”.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Anti-Semitism (APPG) accused Miller of "inciting hatred against Jewish students" at the time, and urged Bristol to "act before any further damage is done".
The anti-Israel campaigner now presents Palestine Declassified, a programme broadcast on Iranian state-backed station Press TV and hosted by former Labour MP Chris Williamson.
Following Miller’s most recent comments, his co-presenter was one of a small number of people prepared to publicly defend him.
“The pearl clutching hyperbole by sections of the ‘left’ about this [David Miller] tweet is depressingly familiar,” he wrote.
“Stop letting the bad faith racist Zionist movement frame our narrative. That's what killed the Corbyn project, and it was the liberal left who wielded the knife.”
In response, Miller told the JC: "The Jewish Chronicle is today owned by a secretive group of intelligence operatives who operate the newspaper for the benefit of the State of Israel and to persecute British Muslims.
"My comment on Twitter was a response to lies published by the Zionist propagandist Hen Mazzig, in which he used his Jewish identity to browbeat non-Jews into accepting his false definition of Judeophobia."
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