‘You are sacked’: Pro-Palestine voices being silenced under Israeli pressure

By Press TV website

As the Israeli regime continues its genocidal campaign against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, attempts to silence voices in support of the oppressed people have also intensified.

Reports have been circulating at an alarming pace about activists being sacked from their positions, journalists being relieved of their duties and even athletes being stripped of their contracts.

On Tuesday, Micheal Eisen took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to announce that he had been replaced as the editor-in-chief of eLife, a UK-based journal for research in the life and biomedical sciences for retweeting a @TheOnion piece that called out “indifference to the lives of Palestinian civilians.”

Many of his colleagues at the journal, in protest at the management’s decision, later announced their resignations as well, refusing to support the Israeli regime’s ongoing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

On Sunday, Egyptian TikToker Karim Qabbani said he had been sacked from his job in France because he made three videos on TikTok in support of the people of Palestine.

In a video statement, Qabbani spoke of how a colleague confronted him about “supporting terrorists”, a reference to Palestinians, which was followed by the company management handing him a document that stated that “we have a mutual agreement to part ways.”

“I suffered injustice, however, it’s nothing compared to the injustice over there (in Gaza),” he remarked.

Jackson Frank, who was recently appointed as the Sixers beat writer for PhillyVoice, was relieved of his duties after sending out a tweet in “solidarity” with the people of Palestine.

“Mr. Frank is no longer employed by PhillyVoice.com as of today,” PhillyVoice.com CEO Hal Donnelly was quoted as saying by the New York Post.

“We stand with everyone who is absolutely outraged by the senseless attacks in Israel, by the loss of innocent lives and violence against civilians.”

Frank, a vocal supporter of Palestine, in one of his tweets on October 13, days after his unceremonious sacking, termed the Israeli atrocities against the people in Gaza as “genocide.”

“It is genocide. It has long been genocide against Palestinians, and all the West continues to do is boisterously offer material support for Israel. Blood on the hands of so many politicians, organizations, journalists and media outlets,” he wrote.

On Monday, a Tube driver in London who joined a group of passengers in a chant of “free, free Palestine” on a London Underground train was suspended by Transport for London.

“We have been urgently and thoroughly investigating the footage appearing to show a Tube driver misusing the PA system and leading chants on a Central Line train on Saturday,” Glynn Barton, TfL’s chief operating officer, was quoted as saying by Sky News.

“A driver has now been identified and suspended whilst we continue to fully investigate the incident in line with our policies and procedures.”

In the Canadian city of Ontario, the New Democratic Party (NDP) expelled MPP Sarah Jama from the caucus earlier this week for her statements in support of Palestinians.

In a series of tweets on Monday, Jama called for an immediate ceasefire and de-escalation by Israel 13 days ago following a “horrific siege on Palestinians in Gaza.

“Since I made my statement, Israel has bombed refugee camps, UN schools, hospitals, airports & the Rafah border crossing between Gaza & Egypt. The unspeakable destruction continues, & represents collective punishment against all Gazans in retaliation for attacks by Hamas,” she wrote.

“The Ford government has nothing meaningful to say about these atrocities and has now targeted me to distract from its own scandals. Those of us committed to Palestinian life refuse to be distracted.”

She hastened to add that her statement was rooted in the realities of Israeli apartheid, accusing the government and institutions in Canada of “trying to use their weight to silence” them.

“Governments and institutions in Canada are trying to use their weight to silence us to silence workers, students, educators, and peace-loving people who dare to support Palestine. To every person taking risks to speak up for Palestinian dignity and safety, I see you, I hear you, and I am with you.”

Arnesa Buljusmic-Kustura, a London-based genocide researcher and lecturer, in an X post, stated that she was a contender for a “dream job” but failed to get it due to her “political opinions.”

“Officially, they’re gonna go with someone else. Privately though because I’m friends with the recruiter, it seems it was my Palestine posts that resulted in me being passed over. It sucks b/c I would’ve been great. The job was amazing. But oh well…at least my conscience is clean,” Kustura tweeted.

She expressed her sadness over missing the role “that really does not come around very often” but added that she “cannot stay silent” over what’s unfolding in the besieged Gaza Strip.

“But I am angry and I think it is absolutely ridiculous to ask me to stay quiet when staying quiet was why my own family was massacred, my own childhood destroyed, my own country destabilised, & why we’re still looking for the remains of our loved ones,” Kustura wrote.

“Genocide should not be this controversial. It really shouldn’t and I should have the right to speak as I want as a free human being. It is ridiculous that people are losing jobs over facts, over defending innocent people being massacred. So much for the tolerant West ey?

Danilla Ortiz, a Peru-based artist and anticolonial activist, in a social media post, said she had been denied a job at a French museum for “showing my support for Palestine.”

“I am proud that fascists who support genocide do not want to work with me, even if they take my money, even if they punish me at work, I will never be on their fascist side,” Ortiz wrote.

Samira Nasr, the editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, posted a story on Instagram about the Israeli regime “cutting off water and electricity to 2.2 million civilians”, terming it “the most inhumane thing.”

The post almost cost Nasr her job, but reportedly she retained it after offering an apology.

Maha Dakhil, one of the top agents in Hollywood, also had to call it quits from her role at the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) after she posted in support of Palestine.

“What’s more heartbreaking than witnessing genocide? Witnessing the denial that genocide is happening,” Dakhil, whose clients include Tom Cruise, Reese Witherspoon, Natalie Portman, Ava DuVernay and Anne Hathaway, had written in the post.

Like Nasr, Dakhil was later forced to tender an apology. CNN had earlier issued a statement extending support to the Israeli regime in its genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip.

Tania Singh, a unionist from Minneapolis, said she had been terminated from her job in a union for “anti-Semitism” over her “support for Palestine and the right for the occupied to resist their occupier.”

“I have no regrets. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” she wrote.

“This happened because settler colonialism is the status quo. When you propagate for the subjugated people, you’re disturbing that established tradition & it’s uncomfortable. Instead of having difficult conversations & evolving, they want to quiet the ones causing discomfort.”

French football club Nice’s Youcef Atal and German football club Mainz’s Anwar El Ghazi have also been reportedly suspended over their social media posts in support of Palestine.

Since October 7, when the Hamas-led Palestinian resistance movement launched an unprecedented military operation, the Israeli regime has been indiscriminately bombarding the Gaza Strip.

More than 6,000 Palestinians have been killed in the aerial blitz, most of them children.

The Israeli regime warplanes have even bombed hospitals and religious places in the besieged coastal strip and forced people to evacuate from north to south of the territory under great risk.