We, the undersigned, call on the BBC to immediately remove Gary Lineker from his position. ​

Mr Lineker has repeatedly aligned himself — knowingly or recklessly — with individuals and content that promote antisemitic narratives or trivialise violence against Jews. The BBC, which claims to value impartiality and integrity, has repeatedly shielded him from consequences.

Mr Lineker has now had to apologise for sharing a social media post which used a dehumanising rat emoji in relation to “Zionists”. Jews were frequently depicted as rats by the Nazis.

This is simply the straw that broke the camel’s back.

When asked whether it was a problem that the narrator of a controversial BBC Gaza documentary was the son of a Hamas official, he responded: “I don’t think so, no.”

In April 2024, he reportedly shared a video of Miko Peled to his Instagram account. In the video, Mr Peled appears to refute the need to condemn the Gaza “resistance” — a term which, in context, appears to refer to Hamas, a proscribed antisemitic genocidal terror group.

Mr Lineker amplified a call to suspend the world’s only Jewish state from international sports. He later deleted the post without explanation, despite claiming that he always reads what he shares.

Shortly afterwards, he reportedly backed criticism of Labour’s reaction to an antisemitic comment made by one of its MPs, once again showing disregard for both the Jewish community and the BBC’s impartiality standards.

He referred to the 7th October 2023 Hamas massacre, in which over 1,200 Israelis were brutally murdered and some 250 taken hostage, as “The Hamas Thing”.
There is a clear pattern here.

The public has every right to ask: if this behaviour came from a less prominent BBC employee, would the BBC tolerate it?

Gary Lineker’s continued association with the BBC is now untenable. Enough is enough.

The BBC must remove Gary Lineker from his position.