The former director of a British international research institute based in East Jerusalem who alleges that he was unfairly dismissed because of his anti-Zionist beliefs has launched a legal battle to have his case heard in the UK.

The Palestine studies scholar Toufic Haddad, who is Palestinian American, was the director of the British Academy-funded Council for British Research in the Levant¡¯s (CBRL) Kenyon Institute from 2020 to 2024. In early 2024, he was informed that he would be made redundant for financial reasons, after a funding cut from the British Academy.

Haddad, however, alleges that he was dismissed after a period of ¡°escalating censorship and victimisation¡± in the wake of the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel, including requests not to speak to the media, ¡°repeated encouragement¡± to look for other jobs as he waited for his Israeli visa to be renewed and a disinvitation from a CBRL annual meeting.

¡°I was targeted and unlawfully dismissed because of my beliefs as an anti-Zionist scholar who had written and spoken extensively for 25 years on the situation in Palestine,¡± Haddad said at a press briefing?outlining the case.

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¡°This case is not just about the specifics of Toufic at CBRL, but it is a case about the role of British academic institutions and funding bodies in the context of scholasticide and genocide,¡± he said.

Because CBRL is registered in the UK and and the UK Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, while as ¡°under Israeli occupation¡±, Haddad and his legal team will argue at an upcoming jurisdiction hearing that his unfair dismissal case should be heard in the UK court system rather than in Israel.

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According to Haddad¡¯s team, CBRL has argued that the academic was on an Israeli contract, which included a clause stating that any disputes should be addressed in the Israeli court system. Haddad and his legal representatives maintain that both his work and the institute more broadly are more closely connected to the UK than Israel.

Asked to comment, CBRL directed ̽»¨ÊÓƵ to an . ¡°The London Central Employment Tribunal is yet to determine at a preliminary hearing whether it has territorial jurisdiction to hear an employment claim against CBRL brought by a former employee. The question of whether the Tribunal has territorial jurisdiction is solely a decision for the Tribunal, and not for CBRL,¡± the institute said.

CBRL added that it would not comment on ¡°employment matters or current legal proceedings¡±.

The barrister Franck Magennis, instructed by the European Legal Support Center to represent Haddad, said it was ¡°obscene¡± to suggest that the academic¡¯s case should be heard in an Israeli court, arguing that CBRL should have acknowledged it was a ¡°mistake¡± to put him on an Israeli contract.

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Citing a , in which the court stated that Israel¡¯s legislation and measures in the West Bank and East Jerusalem ¡°constitute a breach¡± of the UN article against racial segregation and apartheid, Magennis said that Haddad would thus be unlikely to receive a fair hearing in an Israeli court.

Sean Wallis, branch secretary of the UCL University and College Union, which is supporting the case, said Haddad¡¯s case had broader implications for those employed by UK institutions in overseas branches. ¡°There are tens of thousands of Toufics out there¡± who ¡°should have the right to check their British employer through the British court system¡±, Wallis said.

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com