Palestinian rights groups urged not to allow 'Israel lobby to set their agenda'

Organisations committed to the protection of the rights of the Palestinians have condemned “recent attacks on Professor David Miller by some” like minded groups, which they say play into the hands of the Israel lobby.

In a statement, the Convivencia Alliance, which includes Jewish Network forPalestine, Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) and Peacemaker Trust, said it finds such “reactions by progressive solidarity organisations inaccurate and extremely unwise, especially at a moment in time when even more than half of the Israeli population is questioning the policies and actions of the Israeli Apartheid regime. At a time that senior Israeli politicians, ex-generals and former Mossad and Shabak heads are condemning Israeli Apartheid – and wheninternational commentators condemn the process of Normalisation of Israel.”

This comes after Jewish Voice for Labour criticised a tweet Miller published on 7 August 2023, though it did not claim the tweet was anti-Semitic. While the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) said: “Miller ignores the persistence of antisemitism across Europe and in the Americas, and its increase over recent decades with the rise of populist movements, and the resurgence of fascist organisations. Moreover, his supposed ‘facts’ are highly susceptible to an antisemitic interpretation.”

The Convivencia Alliance said it disagreed with this, adding “it is regrettable that JVL and BRICUP seem to be ignoring the situation in Palestine and instead allowing the Israel Lobby to set their agenda and accepted the discredited IHRA “Working Definition of Anti-semitism”, which has been weaponized to silence the critics of Israeli racism and war crimes in Palestine.”

“Instead,” it added, “progressive solidarity organisations should focus their attention on demanding an end to Western financial, military and diplomatic support for Israel, and offering support to the Palestinians.”

Miller, who was fired from Bristol University following a campaign by the Israel lobby over his criticism of the Zionist state, is now facing an Employment Tribunal looking at his complaint against unfair dismissal after two legal inquiries concluded that he could not be accused of anti-Semitism

READ: David Miller is deserving of our solidarity in his battle against Zionism and McCarthyism