BBC slammed in Gary Lineker row after making ‘garbage’ excuse

The broadcaster insisted the star, who retweeted the decision for Israel to be banned from worldwide soccer, “wasn’t taking a position” within the Israel-Hamas battle.

Stephen Crabb MP, a former cupboard minister and the parliamentary chairman of the Conservative Friends of Israel dismissed the declare as “Rubbish”.

He stated: “Everything I’ve seen of Gary Lineker suggests to me that he’s an clever man.

“I can’t see how the unique tweet might have been misinterpreted or not correctly understood.”

“I felt extraordinarily strongly about simply how inappropriate it was for anyone related to the BBC, to seem like endorsing a tweet like that.”

“The BBC have confronted many questions on the way it has lined the battle in Gaza since October seventh.”

“Frankly, it must be guaranteeing that its highest profile presenters aren’t participating in any exercise that exhibits bias and hostility to Israel.”

Match of the Day star Lineker, 63, provoked outrage after the tweet he reposted on Saturday from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel.

He was condemned by MPs and Jewish leaders and has since taken down his retweet which known as for Israel to be ousted from all international tournaments “until it ends its grave violations of international law”.

A spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism added: “One virtually feels sorry for the BBC, which by now will need to have a whole staff devoted to wreck management for this one celeb. Each excuse that that staff makes for him appears to be extra inventive than the final.”

The spokesman added: “Gary Lineker has rather a lot to say about a number of issues, however antisemitism doesn’t seem like one in every of them.”

“At a time of document ranges of racism towards Jews, not a peep. But he has discovered the time to amplify a name to droop the world’s solely Jewish state from worldwide sports activities.”

“His priorities are clear.”

“The fact that a Hamas-run network has commended him for his post shows the sort of audience to which he is, presumably unwittingly, catering.”

Tory MPs demanded the BBC intervene to sanction its highest-paid presenter who earns £1.3million, as they stated they have been ready for “international diplomat and foreign policy expert, Gary Lineker” to sentence Hamas’ atrocities.

Andrew Percy, a distinguished Jewish Tory MP, stated: “Gary Lineker is an ill-informed, ignorant commentator on the Middle East.

“The movement [to boycott Israel] is a racist, anti-Semitic campaign and nobody who receives taxpayers’ money working in the BBC should be endorsing a campaign that is widely understood to promote Jew hate.”

Broadcaster Eamonn Holmes mentioned the anti-Israel tweet throughout his breakfast present on GB News yesterday: “I’m undecided why he feels the necessity to preserve doing issues like this…It’s virtually as if he is goading the BBC into sacking him.”

Lee Anderson, the Tory deputy chairman, stated: “Licence fee payers are fed up of footing the bill for Lineker’s musings on international politics.

“It’s about time BBC bosses decided whether Gary’s right-on rubbish is in keeping with their social media rulebook.”

Jonathan Gullis, the Tory MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, stated: “Hamas harms the people they claim to represent, stealing aid off the people of Gaza, using innocent Gazans as human shields and throwing LGBT+ people off buildings. All this whilst their leaders live a life of luxury in Qatar.

“We wait for international diplomat and foreign policy expert, Gary Lineker, to call this out soon.”

In December 2023, Samir Shah, the BBC’s new chairman, said Lineker appeared to breach social media guidelines when he used X to apparently mock Tory MPs after signing an open letter criticising the Government’s Rwanda policy.

The BBC declined to remark however a spokesman stated: “We aren’t giving a press release. However, for background we perceive Gary retweeted this put up as a result of he thought it was about soccer news and wasn’t taking a place. He has since deleted the tweet.”