13 Mar 2023; MEMO: Further pressure has been piled on former footballer and BBC Sports presenter, Gary Lineker, over a tweet last year in which he deplored the killing of a Palestinian footballer, with UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) slamming it as misleading.
Lineker was fired by the BBC after a wave of controversy over his criticism of the UK government's language and attitude around immigration as being "not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s".
Following the condemnation of his dismissal by many activists and colleagues, however, as well as the subsequent plummeting of BBC Sports' Match of the Day due to his colleagues' refusal to work, the BBC today confirmed that Lineker will return to air this week.
Despite that, the UKLFI has added to the controversy surrounding the presenter when it last week accused the BBC of having "sidestepped" a complaint made by its CEO, Jonathan Turner, regarding Lineker's lamentation of Israeli forces' killing of Ahmed Daraghmeh, a member of a West Bank Palestinian football club, in Nablus in December.
Reposting a tweet that had accused Israeli forces of "treacherously" killing Daraghmeh, Lineker had at the time reacted by saying "How awful".
According to UKLFI and Israeli media, Daraghmeh was a fighter for the Palestinian Resistance group, Hamas, and was killed in a fire fight with Israeli Occupation Forces during their raid in the major West Bank city.
It reportedly took place after Palestinians attempted to prevent illegal Jewish settlers from raiding the claimed Joseph's Tomb on the outskirts of Nablus, which Palestinians hold as a memorial to Sheikh Yousef Dweikat.
READ: BBC sparks outrage after removing content following pressure from pro-Israel lobby
In the post on its website, the UKLFI stated that Lineker "did not apologise for or correct the misleading information in his tweet even though it was drawn to his attention".
The BBC had initially responded to the complaint on 10 January this year, saying that "Gary was not intending to make a political point. We have shared your feedback with him so that he understands your concerns."
UKLFI's Turner then replied, weeks later, insisting that the BBC's "response does not address the key point, that Mr Lineker did not correct the Tweet after he became aware that it was misleading", citing a requirement listed by the outlet in its social media guidance.
UKLFI also pointed out that Lineker had expressed anti-Israeli occupation views in other tweets, such as when he called the Israeli demolition of a Palestinian primary school "awful" back in November, which seemed to show the presenter's expression of a political point. "Even if he did not intend to make a political point, this does not justify failing to correct his Tweet, which concerned a sensitive political issue, once he became aware that it was misleading," Turner stated.
On 1 March, however, the BBC responded by reiterating that "We don't have anything further to add to our original reply." Turner subsequently escalated the complaint to the BBC's Executive Complaints Unit last week, making it an unresolved and ongoing issue.
