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BBC sports broadcaster applauded by Hamas – here’s why

Gary Lineker calls for Israel to be banned from international sports, winning him support from the Hamas terrorist organization.

Susan Tawil, World Israel News

Gary Lineker, a former British soccer player now working as a sports broadcaster for the BBC, sparked controversy recently with a tweet which earned the praise of a mouthpiece for the Hamas terrorist organization.

No stranger to social media controversy, his most recent post was a re-tweet calling to ban Israel from international sports competitions. Lineker later removed the post, but not before it caught the eye of Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network, which praised Lineker for the comment.

The contentious re-tweet was a post from the “Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).” The imperiously named organization is affiliated with the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction) movement, whose aim is to financially cripple Israel. In the tweet at issue, the PACBI demanded that Israel be excluded from international sports events until it “ends its grave violations of international law, particularly its apartheid rule and the crime of genocide it is perpetuating in Gaza.”

Lineker’s X/Twitter account has 8.9 million followers.

One viewer was evidently the Quds news site, which lauded the post with a post of its own, headlined: “Renowned English Broadcaster Calls for Israel to be Banned from International Football.”

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Gary Lineker, 63, played soccer professionally for 16 years, and holds the record for the most goals in the FIFA World Cup. He was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame after his retirement from the field.

Lineker took a job as a football broadcaster for Al Jazeera Sports, a Qatar-based network that broadcasts in the Middle East.

He left in 2012, and was picked up by the BBC, hosting a popular TV football program called “Match of the Day.” He became BBC’s highest paid sports announcer, with an annual salary of 1.35 million pounds (over $1.7 million).

Lineker is active on social media, expressing political views which have often landed him in hot water. He has been described as “the British Left’s Loudest Voice.”

In March, the BBC suspended him from his job due to his social media activity which the BBC considered “a breach of our guidelines.” However, his sportscaster colleagues walked out in support, and Lineker was reinstated in his position within days.

His latest re-tweet controversy was criticized by Conservative MPs as well as the UK’s Campaign Against Anti-Semitism. Lineker claims that his post was a “misunderstanding.” The BBC’s stance can be inferred by its response to one of Lineker’s earlier social media muddles. In that instance, a BBC spokesperson said: “Gary is not involved in any news or political output for the BBC and as such, any expression of his personal political views does not affect the BBC‘s impartiality.”