London-based anti-poverty and human rights campaign group War on Want has released a damning new report that accuses four top English Premier League clubs of violating the freedom of expression and discriminating against pro-Palestinian staff and supporters, while documenting widespread corporate sponsorship ties between top flight clubs and entities that enable Israel’s military actions and apartheid policies in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Titled *Red Card: English Premier League sportswashing Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinians*, the investigation names Arsenal, Brighton & Hove Albion, Burnley and Everton as the clubs that have disproportionately targeted pro-Palestinian workers and fans for punishment. The report builds on years of scrutiny of the global league’s extensive commercial and ownership ties to international actors with direct links to Israel’s military occupation and ongoing military campaign in Gaza.
Among the most high-profile cases documented is that of Mark Bonnick, a kitman who had served Arsenal for 22 years before his abrupt dismissal on Christmas Eve 2024. Bonnick was targeted in an online smear campaign that accused him of antisemitism over social media posts criticizing Israel’s conduct in Gaza. While both the Football Association (FA) and Arsenal’s own internal review found no evidence of antisemitism – a conclusion backed by Jewish anti-racism organizations – the club ultimately fired Bonnick on the grounds that his posts had brought the club “into disrepute”. War on Want argues Arsenal prioritized the demands of hostile pro-Israel campaigners over the staff’s right to peaceful expression in support of Palestinian human rights.
Other cases of discriminatory treatment laid out in the report include a Brighton season-ticket holder banned from the club’s stadium for five years simply for wearing a pro-Palestine t-shirt, while an Israeli academy coach at the same club faced no disciplinary action after posting a social media message calling Palestinians “human animals” and saying “Let them die a death of suffering”. An Everton female fan was barred from entering the club’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium for wearing a Palestine-branded shirt, and Burnley has been criticized for failing to act after a senior club consultant liked a social media post claiming Palestinians are “invented people” and “the biggest Jew haters on Earth”.
Beyond the suppression of pro-Palestinian speech, the investigation finds that at least nine of the 20 Premier League clubs count direct sponsorship from companies that War on Want deems complicit in Israel’s atrocities. The nine clubs named are Arsenal, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. Of these, War on Want identifies Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City and Manchester United as the most deeply entangled with companies facilitating Israeli military actions and apartheid. Additionally, Arsenal, Fulham, both Manchester clubs and Newcastle United are flagged for potential implication through the activities of their owners.
In total, the report documents 15 current Premier League sponsors that it says profit from and are complicit in Israel’s genocide, illegal 56-year occupation and apartheid system. These include six major technology and surveillance firms – Canon, Cisco, Google/Alphabet, HPE, Oracle and Sony – that provide critical infrastructure enabling Israeli military and population control operations. Cisco, which holds an official technology partnership with Manchester City, supplies servers, cybersecurity tools and communications equipment to both the Israeli military and national police. Even as Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has publicly voiced support for Palestinian rights this season, the club’s Emirati ownership maintains close political alliances with Israel and has been accused of fueling the ongoing civil war in Sudan through backing for the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary.
Financial and energy firms that sponsor Premier League clubs also feature prominently in the report: AXA, BP, Eurobank, Evelyn Partners, HSBC and Standard Chartered are all named as enabling Israeli atrocities through financing and energy supplies. BP provides crude oil directly to the Israeli military, while the listed financial institutions have collectively invested billions of dollars in companies that support Israel’s military campaign and occupation. Coca-Cola, another major sponsor, operates subsidiaries and facilities including vineyards in occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan Heights, territory captured and occupied by Israel in 1967 in a move not recognized by international law.
Additional firms that provide material or ideological support to Israel, per the report, include Meta, Deel, Emirates, Etihad, Puma, Wix and X (formerly Twitter). Google’s parent company Alphabet holds government contracts with Israel to provide cloud storage and core tech infrastructure that supports the country’s military, apartheid-era population tracking and border control systems. Oracle, co-founded by prominent Zionist philanthropist Larry Ellison, built the IT infrastructure that underpins Israel’s military operations and even donated specialized equipment to Israeli army units operating in Gaza during the current genocide.
Notably, the entire Premier League is indirectly backed by Barclays, the league’s title sponsor, which War on Want says has a long history of enabling Israeli apartheid.
“What remains unclear is why clubs and English football institutions can be so hostile to peaceful expressions of support and justice for Palestinians enduring genocide and apartheid,” said Neil Sammonds, War on Want’s senior Palestine campaigner, in an interview with Middle East Eye, which first reported on the findings. “Is it conscious or unconscious anti-Muslim or anti-Palestinian hatred? Is it support for Israel, or fear of upsetting people who support Israel? A lot more needs be done to understand this, and to challenge it.”
The report comes amid longstanding criticism of the Premier League’s transformation into a globally focused, billion-pound business. The league is broadcast to 200 countries, generates more than £10 billion ($13.4 billion) in annual revenue and boasts a global fanbase of up to two billion people. Its clubs are increasingly owned by foreign investment vehicles, including sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, leading to repeated accusations that league officials have prioritized commercial profit over ethical standards and the working-class roots of the sport.
War on Want’s findings add a new layer of ethical controversy to the league, which has faced repeated calls to address the suppression of pro-Palestinian speech and cut ties with sponsors complicit in Israel’s actions in Gaza.