By ABUL TAHER
Published: | Updated:
An executive at a football club has been sacked three days after being hired when it emerged she defended Hamas days after the group committed the October 7th massacre on Israel.
Salma Mashhour, a presenter and football pundit, was hired by Dagenham and Redbridge Football Club on Monday with great fanfare as the new director of development and engagement.
But three days later, she was dismissed because of her past tweets and videos on the X and Instagram platforms.
In one tweet, which Ms Mashhour made days after the October 7th atrocity in 2023 which left 1200 dead, she blamed the Israeli ‘occupation’ for the worst terrorist attack in the country’s history.
She said: ‘I do not condemn Hamas; I condemn the brutal occupation, apartheid, international law violations and illegal settlements that created this genocide. If this is terrorism, then you created it.’
Ms Mashhour, who is of Egyptian origin, added: ‘Palestine will be free.’
However, her dismissal appears to have thrown the National League club in East London into chaos, days after an Egyptian production studio boss called Marwan Serry became co-owner of the Dagenham and Redbridge FC.
Mr Serry, who also runs the football YouTube channel Erza3, issued a video in Arabic on Instagram alongside a weeping Ms Masshour, telling Dagenham’s Arab fans to not to attend the club’s local derby match on Good Friday against Ebbsfleet United.
Salma Mashhour, a presenter and football pundit, was hired by Dagenham and Redbridge Football Club on Monday with great fanfare as the new director of development and engagement
Salma Mashhour pictured with Egyptian footballer Mo Salah who plays for Liverpool
Marwan Serry described the sacking as ‘unacceptable….something I did not know about, something I won’t shut up about. I ask of you now please, no one go to the match’
Mr Serry described the sacking as ‘unacceptable….something I did not know about, something I won’t shut up about. I ask of you now please, no one go to the match.’
He added he would personally refund any fans for their tickets for missing the match, which Dagenham won 1-0.
The Jewish News, which discovered Ms Mashhour's social media rants, also found a seven-minute-long video on her Instagram account uploaded two weeks after the October 7th attack.
In the video, Ms Mashhour appeared to be peddling conspiracy theories about the October 7th attack, implying the Israeli government was behind it, saying the atrocity was ‘convenient’ for Benjamin’s Netanyahu’s administration.
Ms Mashhour - who runs a popular YouTube football channel with her husband called ‘Ahmed and Salma’ – was believed to have been hired to reach a Middle Eastern audience, after the publicised Egyptian takeover. But those plans appeared to be in disarray this weekend.
A brief statement from the club said: ‘Dagenham & Redbridge FC has removed Salma Mashhour from the position of Director of Development & Engagement, effective immediately.’
The club’s managing director, Steve Thompson, added: ‘We are a multifaith, multicultural club and we do not tolerate racism, discrimination, or support for terrorism of any kind.’
Ms Mashhour could not be contacted last night.
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