Gary Lineker - he really had to go and a warning t against virtue signalling

He’s an absolute knob.
Delighted he’s off MOTD.
Should have happened sooner.

Gary Lineker is a good man, a national treasure, a role model. Being forced out of MOTD because he’s horrified by war criminals murdering kids (in a war the BBC refuses to cover without fear and favour) is the real story.As Alexie Sayle aptly said in his Christmas message they lie and they lie and they lie. You know the rest.

All this simplistic polarising. You know, I would very much like to see Netanyahu behind bars and Hamas too. I am a Zionist but that doesn't mean I support war crimes, and I take very seriously the obligation to educate myself about the complex history of the region.

I apply those same standards to Lineker. I have no idea how he feels about Jews but he has a responsibility to learn about antisemitism so he doesn't make such stupid mistakes. I am constantly staggered at how ill-informed most people are about antisemitism - you don't have to delve very far to learn about the rat motif.

It's like Corbyn supporting that mural and then saying he didn't spot the obvious antisemitic imagery. How the Jeff can you claim to be anti racist and be so stunningly ignorant about it? I believe Corbyn thinks he isn't antisemitic but that doesn't mean Jews are safe in his hands (to coin a phrase).

That's how I feel about Lineker - if this issue is as important as you say it is (and it is), go and do the essential learning.

For those posters insisting he isn't antisemitic, how can you know,? Surely you mean you haven't seen any good evidence that he is?

A terrible consequence of Hamas’s actions on 7/10/23, and prior, and subsequently.

Right. Well, it's true that I haven't seen any BBC coverage of Jewish protesters. But then I actually didn't see any BBC coverage of Saturday's march either (which many Jewish groups attended) unless I missed it.

But regardless of any of the above. Still right, as far as i'm concerned, that GL resigned.

The BBC won’t want to show that they are outside their door

But also, there is a tendency to dismiss anyone who speaks out about what’s happening in Gaza as anti semitic

All the more reason to be absolutely clear about calling out people who say / do / share things that are genuinely anti-semitic.

Many Jewish voices are speaking out against the slaughter online and by turning up at protests month after month. But, it absolutely shouldn't be their responsibility to speak out about it (any more than it is for anyone else) because this is not about Jewish people, this is about what the Israeli government is perpetrating in Gaza.

It won’t. And of course we shouldn’t accept such posting. But also, there is a tendency to dismiss anyone who speaks out about what’s happening in Gaza as anti semitic. Lineker has foolishly laid himself open to this and so this thread is about him not about the genocide. Incidentally, where are the Jewish voices speaking out against the slaughter? I know there are plenty that do. Sadly lacking on the BBC-unless I have missed them

How very convenient. Hamas don't consider themselves as terrorists do they. They act like they are the voice of the people ie the people's army so they should be held up to the same standards

I know, and all that happens is that the sides get entrenched.

There was a ceasefire, which was broken on Oct 7th .
If anyone can broker a lasting ceasefire, that would be excellent. A good move would be freeing the hostages.
Why are there still hostages? I don't understand.

If only there was enough clarity of vision, to do this ,instead of this trope of one side is completely in the wrong .
There is fault on both sides but not of those that didn't cause this

How is what I said “performative outrage”?

Ceasefire . That is how most have been freed. Not raping, not killing more children than anyone else in the world right now, not starving people, not killing aid workers and journalists. You will note that the people who are protesting are looking for just that, a ceasefire where the hostages go home and the children of Gaza get to live.

Yes, and that is beyond appalling. But how will that situation be improved by us accepting the posting of anti-semitic tropes by British broadcasters?

Hate is not the way, @TomeTome . Indeed.
I do feel that simplistic slogans on sm by people like Lineker do help to fan the flame of intolerance, narrow mindedness and, often, hatred.

I think what I said was I wasn’t aware of that image being particularly focused and antisemitic (and it’s fairly likely I am more experienced than the average uk citizen) so to me it could have been missed by GL. I think he’s consistently been clear on his opinion despite pressure to hide his views on many topics which I admire. There are of course antisemites in all walks of life and racists and xenophobia etc etc. Obviously with Israel behaving as it is many of the people abhorring Israel’s brutal killing of tens of thousands in Gaza will also have views that are anti Israeli, some may even be antisemitic. I don’t think it’s a majority or even a very large proportion though.

Conversely there are Jews around the world horrified by what Netanyahu’s Israel is doing and I am sure Israeli’s who hate all Palestinians or even all Arabs and would happily see them removed from their land if not killed. Hate is not the way. Time to change.

53000 Palestinian civilians have been killed in Gaza since October 7. 70% of them women and children. 260 aid workers have been killed since October 7.

I think it's quite right that Gary Lineker resigned. The horrors being inflicted on Gaza by Netanyahu should not be an excuse for a British broadcaster with decades of experience to reshare an anti-semitic trope (it's hard to believe he honestly didn't realise). The rise in anti-semitism in the UK over the past year is horrendous and the BBC needs to be absolutely clear in standing against it.

Before this I'd absolutely have stood by his right to use his platform to speak out when so many haven't but I don't follow him and didn't realise he had also minimised the 7.10 Hamas attacks in that way - shocking, and even more reason why he should go.

I never said that. You will note.
Perhaps massive protests down Whitehall every weekend, perhaps celebrities tweeting about it, perhaps badges and flags everywhere?
I don't know.
Maybe there isn't the global will to free hostages taken in Israel.

.... indifferent to mass killings of tens of thousands of children ...

What were you saying about performative outrage?

How is raping and torturing people going to get the hostages back? What has been the most successful way of getting the hostages back so far?

I assume in saying that the bombing of hospitals isn’t self-defence, you are saying that it’s a war crime (ie the equivalent of Hamas terrorism). My point is that if weapons had been hidden at Nova, people wouldn’t be calling Oct 7th terrorism, they’d be calling it legitimate self-defence. Or at the very least regrettable but necessary.

So. Stand by? Not try to rescue the hostages? Wait for the UN? I'm not having a go at you and I'm not defending the IDF actions, but I was genuinely wondering how on earth any nation could respond to this.

I'm not that poster but the answer clearly isn't raping, taking people into administration detention and torturing them and killing more children than anyone else in the world right now which is what they have been doing.