Anwar El Ghazi's contract ends over social media posts about Israel-Gaza

German football club Mainz 05 on Friday announced that they have ended Anwar El Ghazi's contract due to posts he made on social media about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

El Ghazi's contract was terminated by the club on Friday, citing "comments and posts from the player on social media," but it didn't provide any other information.

The 28-year-old forward was permitted to resume practice earlier this week after the club had previously suspended him for a now-deleted post about the Middle East conflict.

“Stand for what is right, even if it means standing alone,” El Ghazi said in a social media post after his termination.

“The loss of my livelihood is nothing when compared to the hell being unleashed on the innocent and vulnerable in Gaza,” he said.

El Ghazi, in a recent social media post, clarified that “to the extent my previous statements on social media have been misunderstood, I would like to make clear that I stand for peace and humanity for all”.

Mainz said last Monday that they lifted the suspension and were giving him a second chance, saying he spoke out against terrorism of all kinds, including from Hamas, and also did not question Israel’s right to exist, Al Jazeera reported.

However, in a further social media post last Wednesday, El Ghazi indicated that the club had issued its statement without his permission.

“I do not regret or have any remorse for my position,” the player wrote. “I do not distance myself from what I said and I stand, today and always until my last breath, for humanity and the oppressed.”

He posted another statement in which he condemned “the killing of all innocent civilians in Palestine and Israel”.

“There can never be any justification for the killing of over 3,500 children in Gaza in the last three weeks….I and we as a world cannot conscionably (sic) remain silent. We must call for an end to the killing in Gaza now,” the post adds.

Before El Ghazi’s termination on Friday, German prosecutors accused him of “disturbing public peace by condoning criminal acts in conjunction with incitement to hatred” through his social media posts.