E1 club founder resigns as director amid allegations of serving with IDF in Gaza
E1 has issued an official statement in response
Yuval Hen, the founder of London club E1, has resigned from his position as director amid allegations of having served with the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) in Gaza.
As Mixmag reports, it was recently revealed that Hen allegedly travelled to Israel to serve for the IDF. The news first appeared in a joint Instagram post by Ravers for Palestine and Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG) on 15th February, which contained a screenshot of a since-deleted Facebook post. The post allegedly shows Hen in IDF uniform "somewhere in Gaza", with the caption stating that he he was now "returning home".
Records for Companies House now show that the Israeli club owner parted ways with E1 Records Limited, Studio Spaces Limited and UP Space Limited on Friday (16th February). According to Companies House, Hen's business partner, Oren Arush, remains as director across all three companies.
Ravers for Palestine have urged "all ravers and DJs to boycott E1 until further notice."
On Saturday (17th February), E1 issued an official statement via Instagram declaring that the club is "a place for music and dancing," and that it has "no connection to political movements".
The post referred to Hen as the club's "previous owner", confirming that he had "stepped away" in October "due to being deeply affected by the ongoing crisis across Israel and Palestine", while promising to continue providing "a safe space for people to enjoy club culture in East London".
Klub Verboten shared a statement on Instagram stories announcing their decision to end their relationship with the club following one final show last weekend. They plan to find a new venue for their events.
E1's current home will be demolished later this year to make way for a new development from McLaren Construction. Plans for a brand new purpose-built venue next door to E1's current site were unveiled last September.
