Mainz, of the German football league, announced on Friday that it had terminated the contract with its player Anwar El Ghazi, after a judicial investigation was opened following reports of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The Koblenz prosecutor’s office opened the investigation after posts on the Instagram network in which the player supported the Palestinians, ending with the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, interpreted by some as a call for the destruction of Israel. and by others as a call for equal rights between Palestinians and Israelis.
Now, on network
Mainz 05 terminates contract with Anwar El Ghazi.
Statement: https://t.co/rFfLiYNAp6 pic.twitter.com/qomwT48Dua
– Mainz 05 English (@Mainz05en) November 3, 2023
According to the Koblenz justice, El Ghazi allegedly committed “hate speech” in the messages in question, which were published on October 17.
El Ghazi had already been suspended by the club, which said it was prepared to reinstate him because during discussions with Mainz management he “distanced himself from the message published on the Instagram account and which was deleted a few minutes later” .
On Wednesday, the Dutch international midfielder reaffirmed his position, also in a post on Instagram: “I have no regrets or regrets about my position. I do not renounce what I said or what I defend, today and until my last breath, for humanity and the oppressed.”
– Anwar El Ghazi (@elghazi1995) November 1, 2023
El Ghazi, who was without a club, was signed by Mainz on September 22 and played 51 minutes in three Bundesliga matches.
Israel launched a war to “destroy” Hamas in response to the unprecedented bloody attack carried out on October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist movement, whose elements killed at least 1,400 people, most of them Israeli civilians, near the border with the Gaza Strip.
According to Israeli authorities, at least 240 hostages were subsequently taken and remain in Palestinian territory.
The balance published today by Hamas counts 9,227 deaths, including 3,826 children, as a result of the bombing of Gaza by Israeli forces.
Source: DN
