A cross-party independent British Member of Parliament, Iqbal Mohamed, has launched a formal call for urgent government intervention to cut ties between English football and corporations accused of complicity in Israel’s illegal occupation, apartheid policies, and reported war crimes against the Palestinian people.
In an official letter addressed to UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy dated Wednesday, and shared publicly via his social media channels on June 24 2026, Mohamed laid out his case that top-flight English football is being used to ‘sportswash’ grave human rights violations against Palestinians. He argued that the English Premier League (EPL), its 20 member clubs, and the Football Association (FA) — the governing body of English football — have no business maintaining commercial partnerships with firms linked to documented abuses of Palestinian human rights.
Mohaved’s appeal draws heavily on a new investigative report released by UK-based pro-Palestinian campaign group War on Want, titled *Red Card: English Premier League Sportswashing of Israel’s Atrocities against the Palestinians*. According to the MP, the investigation identifies 16 major sponsoring companies that the United Nations and other leading international authoritative bodies have linked to complicity in Israeli violations. The named firms include global brands Alphabet/Google, AXA, BP, Canon, Carlsberg, Cisco, Coca-Cola, Expedia/Hotels.com, Eurobank, Evelyn Partners, HPE, HSBC, Meta, Oracle, Sony, and Standard Chartered.
The report further finds that at least 10 top-flight clubs — Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur — maintain direct sponsorship deals with one or more of these companies. Five clubs — Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City, and Manchester United — were named as the most deeply connected to firms that facilitate Israeli atrocities, while Arsenal, Fulham, both Manchester clubs and Newcastle United were also flagged for potential implication through the activities of their majority owners.
Mohamed also noted that every EPL club receives indirect backing from Barclays, the league’s headline sponsor. While Barclays ended its practice of underwriting Israeli wartime bonds in 2024, other major sponsors maintain active operations in occupied territories. Coca-Cola, for example, holds subsidiaries and licensing agreements in Israel that operate facilities including agricultural vineyards in occupied East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank, and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, all territories held by Israel in violation of international law.
“I am very concerned that our country’s great football institutions are sportswashing Israel’s atrocities,” Mohamed wrote in the letter. He added: “Our beautiful game must not be used to sportswash such grave injustice. I ask that you ensure that the EPL must not be a profitable safe haven for companies complicit in atrocities.”
Mohamed is calling on Nandy to facilitate coordinated action between the UK government, the EPL, the FA, individual clubs, and other relevant stakeholders to end all sponsorship and advertising partnerships with linked companies as rapidly as possible. He also urged the government to enforce a policy that ensures no UK entity, public or private, provides material aid or assistance to Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid regime.
Beyond commercial ties, the War on Want report also documents alleged restrictions on pro-Palestinian expression within top English football. It found that four EPL clubs — Arsenal, Brighton, Burnley and Everton — have disciplined pro-Palestinian staff and supporters in ways that may violate the right to freedom of expression and constitute unlawful discrimination.
One high-profile case highlighted in the report is that of Mark Bonnick, an Arsenal kitman with 22 years of service at the club. Bonnick posted online criticism of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, and following what the report describes as a coordinated smear campaign led by politically motivated individuals who falsely accused him of antisemitism, he was abruptly terminated from his role on Christmas Eve 2024.
Following an internal investigation by the FA, no misconduct was found. Arsenal’s own internal review also confirmed there was no evidence of antisemitism, a conclusion backed by independent Jewish anti-racism campaigners. Despite this, Arsenal dismissed Bonnick on the grounds that his social media activity had brought the club “into disrepute”.
War on Want said of the case: “Arsenal appears to have prioritised seemingly prejudiced and racist views of those who targeted him online rather than its staff’s livelihood, wellbeing and rights – including the right to freedom of expression in support of people suffering genocide, illegal occupation and apartheid.”
As of publication, no response has been issued from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the Culture Secretary’s office, the EPL, the FA, or any of the named clubs or companies in response to Mohamed’s request.