1,649
of 5,000 signatures
To Richard Garlick - Chief Executive Officer at Arsenal FC
On Christmas Eve 2024, Arsenal Football Club sacked Mark Bonnick, their kitman of 22 years, for posting on social media in support of Palestine.
His dismissal followed a coordinated online smear campaign by pro-Israel accounts falsely accusing him of antisemitism.
Arsenal's own appeal decision admitted the club had never found his posts to be antisemitic. The FA told Arsenal he had broken none of their rules. They fired him anyway, on the grounds that the media coverage had damaged the club's reputation.
Mark Bonnick broke no rules. He was targeted by a smear campaign, abandoned by the club he gave his life to, and left to work on a building site weeks before what should have been his retirement.
This is the same club that publicly backed Black Lives Matter. That showed solidarity with Ukraine. That wraps itself in the language of equality and inclusion, then hands a dedicated employee his notice on Christmas Eve because pro-Israel accounts complained.
And it goes deeper than just one worker. Arsenal sit second in War on Want's league table of complicity in Israel's genocide. Four of Arsenal's sponsors, Google/Alphabet, Meta, Coca-Cola and Expedia, are involved in Israel's atrocities. Senior executives of Deel, whose logo appears on Arsenal's shirts, have given supplies to Israel's armed forces during the genocide.
A club that profits from sponsors embedded in Israel's military machine, then fires a man for opposing that machine, is not making a neutral employment decision. It is making a political one, on the wrong side.
His dismissal followed a coordinated online smear campaign by pro-Israel accounts falsely accusing him of antisemitism.
Arsenal's own appeal decision admitted the club had never found his posts to be antisemitic. The FA told Arsenal he had broken none of their rules. They fired him anyway, on the grounds that the media coverage had damaged the club's reputation.
Mark Bonnick broke no rules. He was targeted by a smear campaign, abandoned by the club he gave his life to, and left to work on a building site weeks before what should have been his retirement.
This is the same club that publicly backed Black Lives Matter. That showed solidarity with Ukraine. That wraps itself in the language of equality and inclusion, then hands a dedicated employee his notice on Christmas Eve because pro-Israel accounts complained.
And it goes deeper than just one worker. Arsenal sit second in War on Want's league table of complicity in Israel's genocide. Four of Arsenal's sponsors, Google/Alphabet, Meta, Coca-Cola and Expedia, are involved in Israel's atrocities. Senior executives of Deel, whose logo appears on Arsenal's shirts, have given supplies to Israel's armed forces during the genocide.
A club that profits from sponsors embedded in Israel's military machine, then fires a man for opposing that machine, is not making a neutral employment decision. It is making a political one, on the wrong side.
Petition text
We are calling on Arsenal Football Club to:
1. Reinstate Mark Bonnick immediately
2. Issue a full public apology
3. Compensate him fairly for unfair dismissal
Arsenal fired their kitman for opposing genocide. Reinstate Mark Bonnick.
Next step - spread the word
Arsenal fired their kitman for opposing genocide. Reinstate Mark Bonnick.
Arsenal fired their kitman for opposing genocide. Reinstate Mark Bonnick.
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