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Defend pro-Palestine footballer Mohamed Elneny against intimidation

AS ISRAEL’S latest atrocities impel more people to speak out for Palestine, they face intimidation to silence them. As a prominent case, the Arsenal footballer Mohamed Elneny sent his 4.8 million Twitter followers a short message: “My heart and my soul and my support for you Palestine.” His tweet attracted many positive and negative comments.

As a sponsor of Arsenal Football Club, the Lavazza Group complained: “We’ll immediately reach out to Arsenal to remark we are concerned about the club [being] associated with such a message. Content of this post is totally not aligned with our company values. Lavazza Group is fully committed against racism and anti-Semitism.” 

Lavazza implied that the tweet had some anti-semitic intent, though its reprimand seems aimed mainly to protect its own profits. When the club signed up for a European Super League without consulting fans, commercial sponsors such as Lavazza remained silent. 

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