Tory MPs Furious At BBC’s Gary Lineker For Backing Israel Football Ban

Gary Lineker hosts BBC football talk show Match Of The Day. (Screengrab via MOTD/YouTube)

Gary Lineker, BBC Match of the Day presenter, stirred controversy by retweeting a call for Israel’s exclusion from international football.

The statement, originally from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel, included a plea from the Palestinian Football Association to FIFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) demanding Israel’s banishment from all global tournaments “until it ends its grave violations of international law.”

The association urged these bodies to impose sanctions on Israel, aligning with other regional and global sporting organisations. The association’s statement highlighted the necessity of holding Israel accountable for “grave violations of human rights” and demanded the suspension of Israel from international tournaments, citing “apartheid rule and the crime of genocide in Gaza.”

Since October 7th, over 23,000 Palestinians, including women and children, have reportedly been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) estimates that 1.9 million people have been internally displaced, and much infrastructure destroyed.

Israel’s military action in Gaza was triggered by Hamas attacks on southern Israel on October 7th, resulting in approximately 1,200 Israeli civilian deaths and the taking of 240 hostages, of whom just over 100 have been released.

Backlash to Lineker’s sharing of the tweet came notably from Tory MP Andrew Percy who blasted the host as “ill-informed” and “ignorant.” Percy strongly condemned the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), which he described as “a racist, anti-Semitic campaign.”

Other Conservatives demanded an investigation and disciplinary action be taken by the BBC against Lineker.

Lee Anderson, the party’s deputy chairman and GB News host, told the Telegraph: “Licence fee payers are fed up of footing the bill for Lineker’s musings on international politics. It’s about time BBC bosses decided whether Gary’s right-on rubbish is in keeping with their social media rulebook.”

Lineker has increasingly come under fire for sharing his political opinions amidst an ongoing debate over the BBC’s impartiality commitment. Previously, Lineker faced criticism in 2023 for drawing controversial parallels between the UK Government’s Rwanda policy and Nazi Germany.

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