Will Gary Lineker ever learn? As if the BBC Sports pundit hadn’t caused enough controversy, now the left-wing centre forward has sparked outrage over a pro-Palestine post he shared on Instagram. The Match of the Day pundit took to the social media site to share a reel first posted by the activist group Palestine Lobby featuring an emoji of a rat – prompting criticism that he was pushing an anti-semitic slur. Hardly a display of the impartiality the Beeb promotes, eh?
The former footballer shared a video titled ‘Zionism explained in less than two minutes’, with text written across it: ‘Why does this still have to be explained? Why?’ Next to the title sits a cartoon rat, which stayed on the screen throughout the film – where lawyer Diana Buddu blasts Israel’s attacks on Gaza. While the ex-England captain hasn’t shied away from speaking about his criticism of Israel, his opponents have hit out at this particular reel and lambasted the addition of the rat image – which is seen as being reminiscent of Nazi symbols used to depict Jewish people – for going too far.
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