A German clubside, Mainz has terminated the contract of one her players Anwar El Ghazi’s over Israel-Palestine posts by the Dutch footballer.
El Ghazi, 28 was previously suspended by the club over a since-deleted social media post where he professed his support for people of Gaza but was later allowed to return to practice at Mainz earlier this week.
The club said they lifted the suspension and gave him a second chance after speaking out against terrorism of all kinds, including from Hamas, and also did not question Israel’s right to exist.
However, in a turn of events on Friday, the club announced that El Ghazi’s deal had been terminated due to “comments and posts from the player on social media” without offering further information.
Anwar had clarified in a social media post on October 27, that “to the extent my previous statements on social media have been misunderstood, I would like to make clear that I stand for peace and humanity for all”.
On Wednesday, El Ghazi stated in a social media post that the club had issued its statement without his permission.
“I do not regret or have any remorse for my position,” the player wrote. “I do not distance myself from what I said and I stand, today and always until my last breath, for humanity and the oppressed.”
He would later post another statement in which he condemned “the killing of all innocent civilians in Palestine and Israel”.
“There can never be any justification for the killing of over 3,500 children in Gaza in the last three weeks….I and we as a world cannot conscionably (sic) remain silent. We must call for an end to the killing in Gaza now,” the post adds.
Prior to his contract termination on Friday, German prosecutors accused El Ghazi of “disturbing public peace by condoning criminal acts in conjunction with incitement to hatred” through his social media posts