According to information from the “Allgemeine Zeitung”, the Dutch-Moroccan soccer professional Anwar El Ghazi is said to have filed a dismissal protection lawsuit with the Mainz labor court against the Bundesliga club FSV Mainz 05.
This would be his reaction to the immediate termination of his contract, which runs until the summer of 2025. There was initially no response from the club when asked. Mainz 05 felt compelled to do so because the 28-year-old striker had repeatedly published pro-Palestinian Instagram posts.
According to the newspaper, El Ghazi is represented by labor and sports lawyer Alexander Bergweiler, who had already expressed doubts that the dismissal without notice was legal. The professional was initially warned by the club for a pro-Palestinian post. In another post, El Ghazi indirectly contradicted a message from Mainz 05 that he had shown remorse.
“I don’t see any statement in the new post that is not covered by freedom of expression,” Bergweiler told the newspaper two weeks ago after the case became known. The lawyer will now represent El Ghazi, the report said.
El Ghazi’s Instagram post got the ball rolling
The starting point was El Ghazi’s first post in mid-October. After the attack on Israel by terrorists on behalf of Hamas on October 7th, he wrote in an Instagram post that was then deleted: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” What is meant is that Palestine should extend from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. This, in a sense, denies Israel its right to exist.