Former English footballer and BBC sports host Gary Lineker has condemned Israeli attacks in Gaza, describing the humanitarian crisis as the worst he’s witnessed.
Lineker emphasized his neutral perspective and condemned the silencing of criticism. He rejected accusations of antisemitism and urged awareness of the ongoing conflict’s complexities.
“Actually, this issue does not concern me directly. I am not a Muslim. I am not Jewish. I am not Israeli. I am not Palestinian,” Lineker spoke to journalist Mehdi Hasan, about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Anadolu Agency reported.
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“So, I see, I think purely from the outside as from a neutral perspective and I cannot think of anything that I have seen worse in my lifetime. The constant images of children losing their lives day in, day out,” he said.
Lineker expressed profound sadness at the loss of innocent lives, stating that the images from Gaza move him to tears.
“We all know that the Hamas incident happened on Oct. 7th. But right now, as soon as you raise your voice against what they (Israel) are doing there, you are accused of being a Hamas supporter or something like that. There is a lot of lobbying to keep people silent,” said the former footballer.
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Lineker responded to criticism of antisemitism, saying that Israel has an agenda to launch a ground offensive against Rafah.
“I do not think it is antisemitic to say that what Israel is doing is wrong. I do not understand how everyone does not see it that way at the moment. Whatever the reason, whatever started it, we all know that the history of this part of the world goes back much further than Oct. 7,” said Lineker.
Saying that what is happening in Gaza is very horrible, Lineker added: “When I see some images on social media, I cry all the time.”
Nearly 35,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7.