Gary Lineker sparks another BBC row & is slammed as ‘ignorant’ after sharing tweet calling to ban Israel from football

GARY Lineker has sparked another BBC row and was slammed as “ignorant” after sharing a tweet calling to ban Israel from world football.

The Match of the Day presenter reposted a statement on X, formerly Twitter, from a pro-Palestinian campaign calling for Israel to be ousted from global tournaments and games “until it ends its grave violations of international law”.

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Gary Lineker, 63, has become involved in another rowCredit: Getty

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He reposted a tweet that called upon FIFA and the IOC to ban Israel from global tournaments and matchesCredit: Twitter

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The MOTD presenter’s retweet has since appeared to have been removedCredit: Twitter

However, the original tweet seems to no longer appear on the former England star’s account.

Lineker, 63, reposted the tweet from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel on Saturday.

It included a statement from the Palestinian Football Association which called upon FIFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to join all regional and global sporting bodies in sanctioning Israel.

The statement demanded that they “take an urgent stance towards Israel’s grave violations of human rights and subject it to legal accountability measures”.

The post went on to demand that the public and officials pressure organisations “to suspend Israel’s membership and ban it from international tournaments and games until it ends its grave violations of international law, particularly its apartheid rule and the crime of genocide it is perpetuating in Gaza”.

But MPs have now demanded that the BBC intervenes to sanction its highest-paid presenter with some slamming the repost as “ignorant”.

Politicians said they were waiting for “international diplomat and foreign policy expert, Gary Lineker” to condemn Hamas’ atrocities.

Andrew Percy, a prominent Jewish Tory MP, told The Telegraph: “Gary Lineker is an ill-informed, ignorant commentator on the Middle East.

“The BDS 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.”

He added: “There has to be a line where the BBC has to intervene and him endorsing a racist campaign, which is what the BDS group is widely understood to be, surely must be a new low if they’re going to allow him to get away with that.”

The Palestinian Football Association tweet called upon Fifa and the International Olympic Committee to join all regional and global sporting bodies in sanctioning Israel.

Stephen Crabb, a former cabinet minister and the parliamentary chairman of the Conservative Friends of Israel, said: “This is a deeply inappropriate tweet for any BBC figure to endorse, and especially for someone of Lineker’s prominence.

“The BDS movement is riddled with anti-Semitism from top to bottom, and deepens the divisions in our own society.

“Given all the problematic questions that have been raised previously about BBC bias during the Gaza conflict, they must not allow high-profile presenters to freelance on these incredibly sensitive issues.”

A spokesman for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Gary Lineker has a lot to say about a lot of things, but anti-Semitism does not appear to be one of them.

“At a time of record levels of racism against Jews, not a peep. But he has found the time to amplify a call to suspend the world’s only Jewish state from international sports. His priorities are clear.”

Terror group Hamas killed 1,400 Israelis in the largest attack since the Holocaust on October 7 last year.

More than 100 victims are still being held hostage by the military group. 

In retaliation to the attacks, Israel is currently undertaking a bombardment of Gaza.

More than 9,300 civilians are believed to have been killed, while 3,600 have been injured. 

It comes as former England footballer turned pundit Lineker was among a group of celebrities urging ministers to scrap their Rwanda scheme and come up with a “fair new plan for refugees”.

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 policy.

But Tory MPs hit back with Cabinet Minister Grant Shapps saying that Lineker should stick to presenting football.

Lineker previously sparked an impartiality row in March 2023 after saying the Government rhetoric on immigration was similar to that of 1930s’ Germany.

But after a review, BBC bosses decided to allow its top stars to share their own views on social media and only ruled they should stop short of political campaigning.

The BBC have been contacted for comment.