Professor in anti-Semitism row is sole shareholder of Corbynite group

University professor embroiled in anti-Semitism row is sole shareholder of Corbynite group bankrolling far left figures accused of harassing Jewish people

• Professor David Miller is facing calls to quit Bristol University academic role
• Claimed Jewish students were ‘being used as political pawns’ by state of Israel
• It has emerged he is the sole director of the ‘Chris Williamson Campaign Group’
• Group has supported ex-London Mayor Ken Livingstone for ‘unlawfully harassing’ Jewish people 

A university professor embroiled in an anti-Semitism row is the sole shareholder of a Corbynite campaign group bankrolling far-left figures accused of harassing Jewish people, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Professor David Miller is facing calls to quit his academic role after accusing Jewish students at Bristol University of ‘being used as political pawns’ by Israel which he described as ‘a violent, racist foreign regime engaged in ethnic cleansing.’

He said members of Bristol’s Jewish Society were part of an orchestrated campaign to attack him after he said it was ‘fundamental to Zionism to encourage Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism’.

Now it has emerged Mr Miller is also the sole director of the ‘Chris Williamson Campaign Group’ which is backing a raft of far-left figures accused of anti-Semitism or who have been kicked out the Labour Party.

Professor David Miller is facing calls to quit his academic role after accusing Jewish students at Bristol University of ‘being used as political pawns’ by Israel which he described as ‘a violent, racist foreign regime engaged in ethnic cleansing’

Chris Williamson, a former Corbynite Labour MP, is using his ‘Left Legal Fighting Fund’ to help bankroll legal challenges by former London Mayor Ken Livingstone and Pam Bromley.

Livingstone was found to have ‘unlawfully harassed’ Jewish people by the Equality and Human Rights Commission when he claimed criticism of an MP’s alleged anti-Semitic comment was ‘part of a smear campaign by “the Israel lobby”‘.

Meanwhile Ms Bromley was accused of posting anti-Semitic comments on Facebook in a Labour anti-Semitism report.

Both are now seeking to challenge the EHRC’s October report with the fighting fund raising almost £20,000 towards their legal costs.

The fund has also backed Sameh Habeeb, a Labour member who was suspended from the party after he was found to have made a string of incendiary, anti-Semitic statements.

Now it has emerged Mr Miller is also the sole director of the ‘Chris Williamson Campaign Group’ which is backing a raft of far-left figures accused of anti-Semitism or who have been kicked out the Labour Party

Williamson’s group boasts on its website of assisting Black Lives Matter protesters in their legal cases.

Dave Rich, director of the Community Security Trust which campaigns against anti-Semitism, said: ‘David Miller’s involvement in this campaign, defending people who have been expelled from the Labour Party due to antisemitism, shows that his academic ideas do not remain in the classroom but have a wider impact.

‘Indeed, Miller himself left the Labour Party under the shadow of an allegation of antisemitism.

‘It is time Bristol University recognised the damaging impact he is having and took action.’

Mr Miller is also a member of an academic working group on Syria that has disputed western claims that President Assad used chemical weapons on his own people.

Chris Williamson, a former Corbynite Labour MP, is using his ‘Left Legal Fighting Fund’ to help bankroll legal challenges by former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who was found to have ‘unlawfully harassed’ Jewish people by the Equality and Human Rights Commission

He is also a director of the Organisation for Propaganda Studies, along with Dr Piers Robinson. Last year the organisation tweeted a YouTube interview headlined ‘Is Coronavirus the New 9/11?’, in which Robinson said it was ‘now obvious’ that the official story of the attacks on the US was incorrect.

Almost 200 academics and media figures, many from the far-left, last week signed a letter backing Mr Miller and that bending to calls to dismiss him would ‘crush academic freedom’.

Mr Miller was approached for comment. 

In a statement the Left Legal Fighting Fund said it is ‘proud of its many successes in providing legal assistance to whistleblowers, protesters and journalists who have been targeted by far-right, pro-Israel groups.

In response to calls for Mr Miller to quit, Mr Williamson has organised a joint letter to Bristol’s Vice-Chancellor Hugh Brady calling for an end to ‘harassment and victimisation’ of Mr Miller

‘Our wide-ranging work has included the defence of Labour Party members who have been unjustly suspended or expelled as a result of “hitlists” passed to the Party by pro-Israel activists.

‘No foreign government, or its lobbyists, should have a veto on who is a member of a UK political party. Our efforts help to protect British democracy.’

In response to calls for Mr Miller to quit, Mr Williamson has organised a joint letter to Bristol’s Vice-Chancellor Hugh Brady calling for an end to ‘harassment and victimisation’ of Mr Miller.

It is co-signed by several senior figures in the university’s faculty, as well as philosopher Professor Noam Chomsky and Israeli historian Professor Ilan Pappé.

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