Latest Lineker row shows BBC ‘blind to anti-semitism’
THE BBC appears “wilfully blind” to anti-semitism by failing to take action over Gary Lineker’s latest social media controversy, a former executive says.
Lineker retweeted a pro-palestinian campaign’s call for Israel to be barred from tournaments over “its grave violations of international law”.
After angry reactions Lineker removed the post, with sources claiming he had believed that he was sharing a news article about Israel being banned, rather than a demand for a ban.
Danny Cohen, the corporation’s former director of television, said: “It seems very clear that Gary Lineker has breached the BBC’S impartiality guidelines, this time in relation to the specific area on which he presents for the BBC.
“The message he reposted supports the racist boycott movement against Israel and the reference to genocide is deeply offensive to the Jewish community. Deleting the post after it has been shared with millions of people does not solve the problem. The BBC’S senior management should act immediately.
“If they chose not to do so, they are proving again To be wilfully blind to issues of bias and anti-semitism within the corporation.” Asked for a response, the BBC said: “We’re not going to comment on individuals or individual social media posts, but we will always respond to issues if they are raised with us.” A BBC source said that the post did not breach guidelines but added that it was right to delete the retweet.
Mr Cohen added: “BBC management claim to believe Gary Lineker’s excuse that he posted the tweet by mistake.
“Few in the Jewish community are likely to believe this. They will feel gaslit by BBC management’s implausible explanation and trust between Jewish people and the BBC will erode further.”
It was not the Match of the Day host’s first social media post about Israel. He previously shared a video in which an academic accused Israel of committing “textbook genocide”.
The post about the Israeli football team was put out by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.
It included a statement from the Palestinian Football Association which called on Fifa and the International Olympic Committee to sanction Israel, urging officials 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”.