Lineker emphasized his neutral perspective and condemned the silencing of criticism. He rejected accusations of anti-Semitism 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.

“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.

“I do not think it is anti-semitic 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.

Source: AboutIslam.net