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British Sewage Worker Fired for Condemning Hamas’s Oct. 7 Massacre
A man runs on a road as fire burns after rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, Israel, Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
A sewage worker in Britain was fired for causing “significant offense” after calling Hamas “disgusting terrorists” and condemning the Palestinian Islamist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.
Severn Trent Water (STW), one of the largest water and sewerage companies in England and Wales, fired Damon Joshua after he wrote a post condemning the Hamas-led invasion of the Jewish state on the company’s staff portal to mark the anniversary of the attack, The Telegraph first reported.
“One year ago, our valued partners and friends, Israel, were horrifically attacked by a group of violent and disgusting terrorists,” Joshua wrote in his post, which also featured an image of the Israeli flag.
“I can say with confidence today that the vast majority of STW’s employees stand in solidarity with our Jewish, Israeli, and Zionist colleagues against the evil of Islamist terror,” he added.
Due to internal complaints that the post contained “derogatory words” and was “very one-sided,” managers at the company removed it shortly afterward.
“The post reflects poorly on Severn Trent’s reputation as a diverse and inclusive company,” one such complainant said, according to The Telegraph.
Immediately afterward, Joshua was suspended pending a disciplinary hearing. He was later dismissed from his job without notice.
“It happened in a matter of hours,” Joshua told The Telegraph. “I made the post at 7:50 [am] and I got a call from my manager at 10 or 11 telling me that it had been taken down.”
“At 1 pm I got called to a meeting room on the site that I was working on,” he continued. “They didn’t really give an opinion on what I’d written. They just said that it was seen as offensive.”
During his disciplinary hearing, he was informed that the post had caused “significant offense” to three staff members who had filed complaints.
“It seems quite shocking to me,” Joshua said. “How could it be one-sided or derogatory to oppose a terrorist. Surely this is only one-sided.”
Following his disciplinary hearing, managers determined that the alleged offense was “in relation to a protected characteristic, specifically religious belief.” The company then terminated his employment for gross misconduct.
However, Joshua argued that his post only mentioned Jews and referred to “Islamist terror,” not Islam, without addressing any other religious group.
“There’s a distinction that I was trying to make between Islamist terror and Islam,” Joshua told The Telegraph. “I didn’t want to link it with all of Islam. Because there is a big difference. Not all followers of Islam are Islamists, and the attack was perpetrated by Hamas who are an Islamist terror organization.”
He filed an appeal against his dismissal, but it was unsuccessful.
During his hearing, Joshua was also told that “the language used in the post caused offense to employees with different perspectives, particularly those with Muslim or Palestinian backgrounds.”
One of the managers reportedly asked him, “How do you think a Palestinian employee would feel reading this?”
Months later, Joshua found a job elsewhere, but he described this experience as “really stressful” and said it had made him “think twice” when expressing his views.
“The hardest part was all the waiting and the not knowing,” he said. “I got no further details for months after I was suspended.”
“There is a whole war on free speech in this country at the moment,” he continued. “Lots of people know it but are too scared to stand up against it.”
Dr. Ben Jones, director of case management at the Free Speech Union, which represented Joshua in his case, condemned the company’s action as “one of the most egregious cases of cancel culture.”
“We’ve dealt with 3,500 cases, but the facts of Damon’s are particularly shocking,” Jones said. “Sacking somebody for condemning Hamas is one of the most egregious cases of cancel culture we’ve seen.”
In a statement, a Severn Trent Water spokesman explained that there had been previous incidents of misusing what they called “an apolitical work forum” to express personal views, despite warnings not to do so.
“This is a complex employee relations case, and it’s important to be clear that this is not the whole story nor an isolated incident,” the statement read.
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people, kidnapped 251 hostages, and perpetrated widespread sexual violence during their Oct. 7 onslaught, the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. The United Kingdom, along with several other countries, has designated Hamas as a terrorist organization.
The post British Sewage Worker Fired for Condemning Hamas’s Oct. 7 Massacre first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.