A cofounder of London club E1 has stepped away from the venue after allegations surfaced that he recently served with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in Gaza.
According to Companies House, Yuval Hen, who is Israeli, left his post at E1 Records Limited, Studio Spaces Limited and UP Space Limited on Friday (February 16) after allegations that he had been actively serving for the IDF during Israel’s ground assault on Gaza had emerged last week on Instagram in a joint post shared by Ravers For Palestine and Writers Against The War On Gaza (WAWOG).
The post shared by the two organisations featured a screenshot of a now-deleted Facebook post by someone who appears to know Hen. The text references Hen fighting "somewhere in Gaza" and is accompanied by a photo of him apparently in IDF uniform.
Hen’s business partner, Oren Arush, with whom he cofounded E1 and ran E1 Records Limited, Studio Spaces Limited and UP Space Limited, is remaining in his role across the three companies.
In a statement shared with media, E1 said it had "no connection to political movements" and confirmed that its "previous owner" had stepped away from the venue "in October due to being deeply affected by the ongoing crisis across Israel and Palestine".
The club’s statement concluded that it would "continue to provide a safe space for people to enjoy club culture in East London".
Almost 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the IDF launched its latest ground assault on the territory in October. That military action came in response to Hamas’ terror attack on Israel on October 7, in which around 1,200 Israelis were killed and others were taken hostage.
