Gary Lineker - foot in mouth again

[onegrumpyoldwoman]

I wish this guy would stick to football or selling crisps

Most recently, he gave an interview to Medhi Hassan (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/12/lineker-appears-to-call-oct-7-attacks-the-hamas-thing/ ) where he appeared to minimise the October 7th Hamas attacks as “the Hamas thing”, whilst falsely stating of the war in Gaza “I can’t think of anything that I’ve seen worse in my lifetime”. This statement is absurd hyperbole given that Mr Lineker was born in 1960 and has hence lived through major wars such as Vietnam, Iraq, Iran-Iraq, the Soviet and Western interventions in Afghanistan, and the Syrian Civil War, all of which have cost hundreds of thousands, in some cases millions, of lives.

I do not believe that it is compatible with Mr Lineker’s role as a presenter on Match of the Day, and hence an employee of our national public broadcaster, which is supposed to be politically impartial, for him to take such outspoken stances.

He's a total moron but seems to consider himself some sort of wise political commentator. I wish he would stick to football.

But it is awful. People preventing aid getting through and gleefully destroying it, is awful. The huge amount of hatred is shocking. It is one of the worst things I've seen and I'm 45. I don't like rank ordering awful events and so I won't. There is something deeply wrong when children are encouraged to destroy food intended for starving civilians and when aid workers are attacked and killed.

TBF he has a point. Good for him for using his celebrity to speak out for injustice.

@murgugug that statement is completely and utterly false. And anyone suggesting Gaza is the “worst” conflict since 1960 is an idiot.

I'm almost the same age as Lineker. The situation in Gaza is the worst I've seen in my lifetime for the reasons @alesl360 articulates.

I would add to the list the biased reporting, and the political opportunism of politicians in countries not directly involved. Shameful.

I think people think it's the worst they've seen because of the coverage and attention it's got. Plus it's very fresh in people's minds.

I don't really see how you can quantify war and decide which is the worst but I'm sure there have been plenty of less publicised conflicts since 1960 which are equally horrific.

The Yemeni civil war is and has been horrific in humanitarian terms but seems to get very little real attention.

The wars in Syria and Sudan are the same.

I don't agree with Israel's actions at all but they do seem to come under a different microscope.

I forgot to add that the Number of children killed higher than from four years of world conflict: turkiye.un.org/en/263401-gaza-number-children-killed-higher-four-years-world-conflict

And let's not forget it's been classified as genocide by the ICC.

I must have missed the ruling, do you have a link?

Second Congo War, Syrian Civil War, Darfur, Iraq War, Afghanistan, War on Boko Haram, Yemeni Civil War, Rwanda, the Vietnam war. These are just off the top of my head.

But of course Israel wasn’t involved in any of these so despite the millions killed they don’t seem to register with halfwits like Lineker.

The daily death rate in Gaza is widely considered to be the highest of any recent major conflict. I believe around half the dead are children. Then there is the displacement of potentially more than 1 mil people into a tiny area with famine, disease, sparse medical care. I think it’s definitely a contender OP.

And let's not forget it's been classified as genocide by the ICC.

No it hasn't, as far as I am aware. so either please stop spreading misinformation or post the link to this information.

Of course it's not the worst conflict in Linekar's lifetime, he's either stupid or disingenuous.
I know people tend to roundly ignore the existence of Africa but come on.

What people mean is that they didn't see graphic footage from previous conflicts on their Instagram reels on a daily basis.

Well the actions of the Israeli government have been horrendous, certainly not the behaviour expected from an ally to say the least. And that's putting it quite mildly so why are you surprised that people are shocked or upset by it OP?

Aye I agree. And then asking women and children to go to places where the Israeli government told them were safe and then proceeding to strike those places to maim and kill them and firing and killing aid workers, absolutely shocking behaviour.
I'm surprised there's not more outrage for the poor British aid worker who was terribly killed for only trying to help.

I agree with him and welcome public figures speaking up about the genocide happening in Gaza.

Public figure should keep within the bounds of their contracts, especially when taxpayers like me pay their wages.

Time to defund the BBC methinks...

Yes, I think this is the case to an extent although the Syrian civil war has had significant coverage in the mainstream news and across social media. Less people have given a toss though for some reason.

In 1994 Gary Lineker was 33. The Rwanda genocide saw 800,000 massacred in a 100-day period.

He enjoys the flattery of the Left but is just as selective in the atrocities he chooses to highlight (or omit more like).

Or if it bothers you so much you could just not listen to what he has to say? As some of the rest of us quite appreciate him speaking out, as evidently can be noted on this thread itself.

Define Zionist.

You are missing the point of the post.

Gary Lineker is paid by me (and every other licence payer) to be a football pundit not a political commentator.

He appears to minimise the Oct 7th attacks, which is disgraceful.

This!