Arsenal Football Club have defended the social media post from star Mohamed Elneny in ‘support’ of Palestine, as their conflict – which has got much worse recently – with Israel continues.
The Jewish Chronicle have received comment from Arsenal after complaints were made on the post, which stands at 18,000 retweets, almost 70,000 likes, on Elneny’s account with 4.8m followers.
Elneny’s sharing of an image that erases Israel from the conflicted territory’s map is what has caused controversy amongst some of the club’s Jewish supporters.
Arsenal insisted in their statement that their ‘players are entitled to express their views on their own platforms’. The club appear to have learnt from their mistake on the Mesut Ozil front with their response.
Ozil feels that his omissions from the Gunners’ Premier League and Europa League squads, which ultimately led to his exit, were because he was outspoken on the vile treatment of the Uighur Muslims.
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Here is the statement made to the Jewish Chronicle:
“As with any employees of Arsenal, our players are entitled to express their views on their own platforms. That said, we are speaking 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.”
It has been stated that the club are ‘speaking’ to the defensive midfielder in an effort to ensure he understands the ‘wider implications’ of his post.
As controversial as one aspect (the map) of Elneny’s post is, the general consensus of Arsenal supporters should be pleased to see that they have learnt from their past treatment of Ozil.