Mohamed Elneny tried to get involved in the ongoing tension in the middle-east by showing his support for Palestine via social media and one of Arsenal’s sponsors was not happy about it.
The 28-year-old center-midfielder who is from Egypt took to Twitter to express his solidarity with Palestine hours after an Israeli airstrike hit Gaza and led to the loss of property and lives of civilians in the Palestinian city.
In his social media post which has been deleted, the midfielder wrote: “My heart and my soul and my support for you Palestine.”
After he shared the post to his over 4.8 million followers on Twitter, an Israeli publication, Jewish Chronicle, claimed that the social media post offended Jewish fans of the club.
An aspect of Elneny’s social media post that also offended Arsenal’s Jewish fans included an image called ‘Palestine Lives Matter’. The image featured an outline of Israel filled with pro-Palestine images.
Not only that, but the Jewish publication claimed that Mohamed Elneny‘s pro-Palestinian comment offended one of the sponsors of the club, Lavazza Group.
In a statement, the group released to the Jewish Chronicle, the organization claimed that they would reach out to Arsenal concerning Mohamed Elneny’s post.
“We’ll immediately reach out to Arsenal to remark we are concerned about the club associated with such a message”, the group’s statement read.
“Content of this post is totally not aligned with our company values. Lavazza Group is fully committed against racism and antisemitism.”
In reaction to the controversial post from Mohamed Elneny, a statement from Arsenal said the club had discussed with the Egyptian footballer over the post while noting that their players and staff are entitled to express their opinion via their platform.
However, the club said they have made it clear to Elneny that he should have considered the wider implication of his social media post before he shared it.
“As with any employees of Arsenal, our players are entitled to express their views on their own platforms,” the club told Sky Sports.
“That said we have spoken to Mo about this so he understands the wider implications of his post.
“As a club, we are committed to confronting and eliminating all forms of discrimination and continue to champion the need for equality and diversity across all areas of life.”
