Football club sacks director after anti-genocide comments

Petition to remove Salma Mashhour from Dagenham and Redbridge FC had only 558 signatures and whitewashed Israel’s slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians and the history of its occupation of Palestine

Dagenham and Redbridge Football Club (DRFC) has sacked its Arab director of development after she posted comments condemning Israel’s apartheid and genocide, despite an apparently pro-Israel petition for her removal gaining only 558 signatures (at the time of writing).

Salma Mashhour’s ousting was announced in a social media post by the club that gave no reasons for the dismissal – and which quickly amassed 52,000 uniformly negative reactions despite DRFC locking down the post to block new comments:

Mashhour had posted consistently in support of the Palestinians against their relentless murder by Israel through the course of its genocide:

She had also posted a video, accurately calling Israel an “illegal apartheid state”.

The petition’s creator also pointed to a post from October 2023 in which Mashhour pointed out, factually, that Israel’s “occupation creates resistance, Israel created Hamas” and added that “resistance is not terrorism”.

The petition claims this was Mashhour ‘justif[ying] the terrible attack… on the Israeli people’, ignoring the fact that many and probably most of the Israeli victims were killed by their own army – a fact long since admitted by Israeli news media and even Israel’s military and its defence minister at the time of the raid:

Video: former defence minister Gallant admits Israel repeatedly killed its own people on 7 Oct 2023

It likewise glosses over Israel’s mass murder and maiming of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians, overwhelmingly women and children, with the trite ‘both-sidesism’:

All murder is deplorable, and peace needs to be brought to the Middle East.

‘Daggers’ petition.

The sacking prompted a prominent local mosque to accuse DRFC of bowing to racism and call on the club to reverse its decision:

we were deeply dismayed to learn of the dismissal of the Director of Development and Engagement, particularly following pressure from vocal anti-Arab lobby groups. This action casts a shadow over the club’s commitment to inclusivity and raises serious questions about its values.

Racist voices do not represent the diverse and vibrant community of Dagenham. The club needs to change direction and embrace it’s local people.

We urge the club to reconsider its recent decision, reaffirm its commitment to inclusivity, equality, and actively engage with all its local people. Embracing inclusivity is not only the right thing to do, but it will also strengthen the club both on and off the pitch.

The club’s Egyptian co-owner Marwan Serry, who stepped down in protest at the sacking and said he had not been informed about it beforehand, called for a boycott of the club and promised to personally reimburse any fans who had already bought tickets and chose not to go:

This is not acceptable and is not something I will be silent about. I will inform you about all the official steps I am going to take soon, but please, no one go to the match tomorrow and anyone who has purchased a ticket I will personally refund you,” he said in a TikTok video that has been watched almost ten million times. A follow-up video announcing his decision to withdraw from the club has had almost eight million views.

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