Gary Lineker has been condemned after sharing an Instagram video which featured an emoji of a rat, with critics accusing him of promoting a familiar anti-Semitic slur.
The Match Of The Day presenter and former England football captain posted a reel originating with the pro-Palestine group Palestine Lobby.
The cartoon image of a rat was seen on screen throughout, above the video in which Canadian-Palestinian lawyer Diana Buddu attacks Israel‘s war in Gaza.
Lineker has been vocal in his own criticisms of Israel’s actions.
But campaigners say sharing this particular video with the rat image goes too far and have also criticised the BBC for whom Lineker will remain until after next year’s World Cup while stepping down as Match Of The Day host this month.
Disgusted users on X shared his post to on the social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.
It was immediately flagged as a post which ‘may violate X’s rules against Hateful Conduct’.
Images of rats and other vermin were regularly used as tropes by Nazi Germany to depict Jewish people.
Gary Lineker has been condemned after sharing an Instagram video which featured an emoji of a rat, with critics accusing him of promoting a familiar antisemitic slur
The Match Of The Day presenter and former England football captain posted a reel originating with the pro-Palestine group Palestine Lobby
The charity Campaign Against Antisemitism posted on X: ‘Nothing to see here. Just Gary Lineker’s Instagram account sharing an anti-Israel video misrepresenting Zionism, complete with a rat emoji.’
A CAA spokesperson has now told MailOnline: ‘Gary Lineker really has the worst luck when it comes to campaigning for his causes without aligning himself with extremists and antisemites.
‘Not only does this video deliberately misrepresent Zionism – the belief that Jews have the same right to self-determination as everyone else – but it adds a rat emoji in doing so.
‘Why is it that Gary Lineker keeps sharing content on social media that seems to cater to Jew-haters?
‘Perhaps Mr Lineker is not as naive as he would like us to believe.
‘As the BBC’s highest-paid presenter and owner of a major media enterprise, maybe he knows exactly what he’s doing.
‘We will be submitting a complaint to the BBC over this latest post.
‘However, we all know that, no matter how appalling Mr Lineker’s output, the BBC will perform all sorts of mental gymnastics to look the other way.
Lineker shared the Palestine Lobby video in his ‘Stories’ selection of reels on Instagram
‘When it comes to Jews, it seems that our national broadcaster believes that the usual standards simply don’t apply.’
There has been a backlash on social media against both Lineker and his BBC employers following his sharing of the video, which remained on his Instagram page today.
One poster wrote on X: ‘Hidden in insta stories @GaryLineker displays exactly what he is – complete with the rat picture.
‘@BBC that you choose to accept his behaviour, and keep him on your payroll, is as disgusting as it is shameful.’
Barrister Simon Myerson KC, who chairs the Leeds Jewish Representative Council, wondered whether Lineker would ‘have the guts to explain this to Emily Damari’, one of the hostages captured by Hamas in their terror attacks targeting Israel on October 7 2023.
Mr Myerson added: ‘I reckon not. Big man behind a keyboard mind.’
Former BBC journalist Sean McGinty posted: ‘The boss of the BBC, Two-tier Tim Davie, is sitting on his hands again.
‘Is he too scared or too dim to understand what @GaryLineker is saying here?
The charity Campaign Against Antisemitism has been among critics of the latest video shared
‘This antisemitic post (note the rat) on Linekar’s Instagram cannot be defended. Yet he has demanded to stay to present the World Cup next year and the BBC have agreed.
‘I love what the BBC once was (for all its faults) and it pains me greatly to watch it being vandalised to the point of destruction by these people for their own financial gains.’
Clint Matthews wrote: ‘Nothing to see here. Just @GaryLineker proudly showing his antisemitic roots.’
Labour Against Antisemitism activist Emma Picken said, ‘@GaryLineker is an antisemite. Gross’, while another poster described the video’s use of a rat emoji as ‘straight up Nazi rhetoric’.
Author Alex Hearn commented: ‘The content Gary Lineker is sharing is so toxic that just explaining it can get a “hateful conduct” label on X. Too extreme for X, but okay for the BBC.’
MailOnline has contacted Lineker’s representatives for comment, as well as the BBC and the group Palestine Lobby that initially posted the video reel.
Lineker, who played for Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and Barcelona, has previously faced controversy for his political interventions which critics claim are breaches of the BBC’s impartiality rules.
In January last year he said he received threats after he retweeted and later deleted a post on social media calling for Israel to be banned from international sporting events, including football.
Gary Lineker is due to step down as Match Of The Day presenter at the end of this season but will present BBC coverage of next year’s World Cup
Later, speaking to news site Zeteo, he said: ‘There is a lot of heavy lobbying on people to be quiet so I understand why most people refrain but I’m getting on a bit now, I’m fairly secure and I can’t be silent about what’s happening.
‘I think it’s just so, so utterly awful and now they’re talking about, “Oh, it looks like it’s happening, going into Rafah”, where they’ve sent everybody down there.
‘So I don’t see how you can be – it’s not antisemitic to say that what Israel is doing is wrong. I just can’t see how everybody doesn’t see it that way now.
‘But whatever the cause, whatever started it – we all know that the history of this area of the world goes way before October 7th. But it’s truly dreadful what’s happening.
‘And I cry on a regular basis when I see certain images on social media.’
