Underbelly actor Firass Dirani has been dropped from The Office Australia, according to reports.
This comes after he expressed support for Hamas, amid the conflict between the terrorist group and Israel.
War has broken out after the Palestinian terrorist group launched a surprise attack into Israel on Saturday, which led to Israeli forces vowing to turn the Gaza Strip into ‘rubble’.
The country has launched retaliatory strikes in over 200 locations throughout Gaza, killing more than 700 people and injuring 4,000 more after Hamas troops breached the Gaza border and killed hundreds of people, taking many more hostage.
The conflict has claimed more than 1,700 lives on both sides, with over 187,500 people displaced from the Strip.
Israel struck hundreds of ‘targets’ in Gaza, and have ordered 1.1million civilians to evacuate the northern region within hours, after suspending supplies of food, water and electricity and fuel to Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Hamas urged people to stay put and defy the military order.
Following Hamas’ attack last weekend, Dirani posted a video on social media sharing support of the terrorist group.
The 39-year-old is reported to have said that Hamas was being ‘propagated against as if they’re a terrorist militant group’.
He also compared the situation in Ukraine with Hamas, suggesting that the deaths of Israeli women and children by the terrorist group were ‘Palestinians resisting the oppressors’.
According Australian publication The Daily Telegraph, Dirani told his 63,000 followers on Instagram: ‘Seeing some people posting about in support of the Israeli flag and in a way that Hamas has been propagated against as if they’re a terrorist militant group.’
He went on: ‘Not too long ago the Ukrainian people were armed and were fighting against Russia, and they were called heroes and people that were resisting, resisting the oppressors, and now when the Palestinians resist the oppressors, that has been going on for 75 years, they’re labelled something else.
‘They’re labelled as terrorists or militants, savages.
‘They have every right to defend themselves, and for those who are supporting Israel, ones that are posting the Israeli flag, you are supporting apartheid, you are supporting apartheid, period.’
It has now been claimed he has been dropped from The Office Australia.
The sitcom, based on Ricky Gervais’ UK version, will follow a female ‘modern-day David Brent’.
Australian comedian and actor Felicity Ward (Wakefield, The Inbetweeners 2) will star as Hannah Howard, the managing director of packaging company Flinley Craddick.
The eight-part series will also star Edith Poor (The Power of the Dog), Steen Raskopoulos (The Duchess), Shari Sebbens (Thor: Love and Thunder), Josh Thomson (Young Rock), Jonny Brugh (What We Do in the Shadows), Pallavi Sharda (The Twelve), Susan Ling Young (Hungry Ghosts), Raj Labade and Lucy Schmit.
Dirani, who was originally part of the line-up, has now been dropped from the series, with production company behind the sitcom, Amazon Prime Video telling The Saturday Telegraph that he was not appearing on the programme.
Insiders from Amazon Prime Video told the publication: ‘We won’t be making a comment. Firass was announced as being cast in The Office Australia but he didn’t make it to production.
‘There were “differences” before production started. Production has wrapped up and he isn’t in the show.
‘This often happens. People don’t get cast after pre-production.’
This comes after a Jewish BBC reporter resigned after the corporation refused to call Hamas ‘terrorists’ amid the ongoing conflict.
Noah Abrahams, 22, worked on BBC Radio Derby, but said the ‘unjustified’ decision to not call Hamas’ actions ‘terrorism’ prompted his decision to leave.
He wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday: ‘A personal announcement from me: I will no longer work for or represent the BBC.
‘No more games this season. No more input.’
During an appearance on TalkTV, Noah explained: ‘I have morals and I stick by them.
‘I think the words justified and unjustified have been thrown around a lot since the weekend and I think the BBC’s refusal to use the correct terminology is unjustified.
‘Words quite literally are fundamental to the English language, they impact how we think, how we react, how we act. They have influence.
‘The phrase freedom fighter distracts from the reality of terrorism, to those easily influenced it implies what is not.
‘[Hamas] aren’t freedom fighters or, as [BBC World Affairs editor] John Simpson refers to them, gunmen. They’re terrorists.
‘There are probably people watching who think I’ve thrown it all away for some words, but terminology, words – when neglected – have the power to fuel hate and the power put fuel on the fire.
‘As a Jewish person, believe me, there is already enough fuel on that fire.’
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Metro.co.uk has approached Amazon Prime Video and Firass Dirani for comment.
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