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

[mids2019]

Maybe Gary Lineker's departure acts as a warning for this not acquainted with history to go around randomly reposting pro Palestinian links though I suspect he is not the only one. In a way it is a sad demise to a career but an absolutely necessary one and a timely warning that a proportion of P Palestinian supporters are anti semites.

for to say I didn't like the Gaurdian 's take that the BBC were looking to sack Gary anyway and he just have them an excuse.

Whatever we may think of Lineker, it’s pretty clear he’s laughing all the way to the bank. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s already sealed a hundreds-of-million pounds deal this afternoon to front ITV’s England internationals from this autumn and World Cup 2026 coverage next year. In the same way that ITV secured Jonathan Ross and Jeremy Clarkson after their BBC exits, ITV will easily snap up Lineker. It’s amazing how so many ex-BBC stars have revived their careers on ITV - the channel where no one can do any wrong. Oh well. The BBC has little star quality of its own left thanks to forcing so many out of the door. Very short sighted of them. Now no one will watch their football coverage.

Strongly disagree that Israelis need to be held to a higher standard than Palestinians
That's not what they said. They said a higher standard then Hamas a proscribed terrorist organisation. Why are you equating all Palestinians with Hamas?

Anyway they are talking about democratic governments being held to a higher standard then terrorists not sure why people wouldn't agree

I don’t. I expect better behavior from the army of a democratic country which is a signatory of the Geneva Convention than I do from a terrorist group. Regardless of nationality.

When you call yourself the "moral army in the world" you are definitely holding yourself up to scrutiny compared to a terrorist organization.

When Hamas deliberately use human shields, when they hide amongst the non-combatants, when they use hospitals for covert purposes, when they have a tunnel system, and on, and on.

Conflict in a highly populated urban environment is anything but surgical - as much as armchair commentators would like zero collateral casualties. Should Israel risk their own troops against fanatics, who belong to a death cult, in CQB?

The fog of war.

Clarification: both Hamas and the IDF use human shields.

Funny how people describe someone who posts something with an antisemitic trope in it as someone 'speaking out'.
I'm sure he was aware what he was posting. If he had left the rat out and just posted about the awful situation in Gaza right now then noone would be having this conversation.

Clarification No 2

One to search for terrorists and their network.

One to place hostages in harms way.

I assume you agree with the rest of the post.

Great.

Clarification: when "oh, we had to sort of off 100 civilians because human shields" the argument loses all meaning!

Human shields would only work if anyone actually gave a fuck about killing civilians. Which, clearly, is not the case.

What a strange comment. Why on earth would you mention Danny Cohen (who left the BBC in 2015) in the context of this thread?

53000 civilian casualties mostly women and children is a pretty thick fog……

Who were you referring to as “Hamas apologists”?

No reasonable person condones civilian loss of life - on any scale.

But we should all remember, Hamas brought this war to the Palestinians - ultimate responsibility rests with them.

Couldn't agree less with your other post.

But I just wanted to clarify that human shields are used by the IDF also.

Don't understand this post, implies that a human shield is ok if it's for an aim you agree with and that couldn't be true.

@MyNameIsXyou missed my question. Who were you referring to as a Hamas apologist?

Because Danny Cohen has played a key role in a sustained campaign against the BBC, using his position as a former senior insider to help shape narratives and discredit anyone who dares to challenge the official Israeli perspective.

https://archive.ph/A2JQI

I am not hounding you. I am asking who you meant when you used the term “Hamas apologist”

I consider that you are hounding me, and I ask you to stop.

I see that the thread has shifted into the Israel/Hamas conflict, joining the thousand other threads about this here on MN. This thread, I think, was about Mr Lineker and his virtue signalling, and I do think it's possible to carefully tease the issues away from the political debate.

I don't think Lineker has any meaningful understanding of the situation nor its history. He appears to be a narcissist who craves attention at whatever cost. He doesn't appear to be very bright, but he's smart enough to know that football fans don't blink at the death of civilians.

So, the sad fact is, whilst his actions have inflamed further the anger arising from the Israel/Hamas conflict, I suspect Lineker cares as little for Palestinians as he does Israelis. His actions were antisemite, in my opinion, but these were deployed for selfish, narcissistic reasons.

The ire I have is with the BBC who have enabled him to withdraw gracefully and who have not learned from past events. I already had immeasurable levels of disgust with the BBC - an institution I used to love - but one that I now feel needs defunding and breaking up.

he's smart enough to know that football fans don't blink at the death of civilians
What does this mean?

I've nothing but respect for GL's courage and integrity.

Shame on the BBC.

I hope GL continues to speak out.

@ExpressCheckout You make a reasoned assessment, I think.

Why is he a "virtue signaller" , "narcissist ", "selfish" and "not very bright" because he has a view point.

How condescending to say he doesn't understand the history because he doesn't agree with your view point.

Do you use the same words for pro Israeli celebrities who exercise their right to use their platform for their personal views: Rachel Riley , Deborah Messing, Sharon Osborne etc.

Are they also narcissistic virtual signallers?

Israel has steadily undermined and dismissed the authority of international institutions—from the UN, UNRWA, ICC, and ICJ, to the Red Cross and the UN Human Rights Council. That the BBC is now being pulled into this pattern of delegitimization is both predictable and disheartening. The critics were circling Gary long before, merely waiting for an excuse to pounce. That said, he has a large following who will continue to support him, especially as legacy media is in terminal decline anyway.

I think, if you read carefully, you'll find that I didn't express a viewpoint about the conflict, only some observations of his behaviour.

Goodnight.