An award-winning filmmaker has urged Arsenal Football Club to reverse its decision to dismiss a long-serving kitman over comments he posted on social media criticising Israel's conduct of its war on Gaza.
In a letter, Jon Blair, an Oscar, Emmy and BAFTA-winning director, voiced support for Mark Bonnick, who had been employed by the English Premier League club for 24 years at the time he was sacked in 2024.
Middle East Eye has previously reported on Bonnick's case.
Bonnick, who had worked alongside players including Bukayo Saka and Myles Lewis-Skelly in his role as a youth academy kitman, is currently taking Arsenal to an employment tribunal with the case expected to be heard in the coming months.
Blair is best known for directing an Academy Award-winning documentary Anne Frank Remembered, which tells the story of Anne Frank, as well as the earlier BAFTA-winning film Schindler, about Oskar Schindler, which was produced years before Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List.
