Letter to Gary Linekar

Dear Gary Lineker,

We hope this letter finds you well. We wanted to take a moment to commend you for your recent interview with Zeteo, where you spoke candidly about the situation in Israel and Palestine. It takes courage to speak out on such a divisive issue, especially considering the heavy lobbying and threats you may face or have faced.

Your refusal to stay silent despite these challenges is admirable. You speak from a place of genuine concern for the atrocities occurring in the region. Your assertion that criticising Israel’s actions is not anti-Semitic is an important reminder in a climate where such accusations are often used to silence legitimate criticism.   

As Muslims, we can empathise with this sentiment. Calling for a unified army of the Muslim world to intervene in Palestine is often labelled as anti-Semitic (another form of cancel culture). Yet, when other nations, such as Russia invade Ukraine, and engage in acts of aggression, the international community is quick to rally together and intervene with their armies. This double standard is glaring and concerning.

We hope you don’t feel the wrath of the Zionist lobby in this country for their aggression, and if you do, we hope you stand tall against it like you have on many other topics. Your courage in speaking out against injustice is commendable.       

Indeed, your words resonate deeply with the ongoing struggle against injustice worldwide. As you mentioned in your interview you are not a Muslim or a Jew, and you are speaking from the outside. As a Muslim group, we can attest to the fact that the struggle isn’t between Muslims and non-Muslims, nor is it between Blacks and Whites. The struggle, indeed, globally has become between the average masses and the political elite. It seems like the struggle has become for the basic needs of the masses over the lining of the pockets of the elite.

Gary, you’re familiar with own goals, although none we can remember in the context of your illustrious football career. However, the support of this conflict is the greatest own goal Britain has scored. While the government finds satisfaction in supporting Israel through arms sales, closer to home, we witness homelessness, child poverty, and the agonising choice between eating and heating. This, unquestionably, is an own goal. The priorities are clearly about political expediency, not the people of Britain. Furthermore, by supporting such tyranny, Britain has single-handedly lost credibility in the eyes of the masses and exposed human rights and international law to be mere lip service.       

We finish on a lighter note, we wanted to extend an invitation to you. If you ever find yourself in Bedfordshire, please know that you’re welcome to pop in for some tea and biscuits. No agenda, no social media presence, just good company, and conversation.

Keep up the good fight, Gary. Your voice adds to dispelling the myths around this barbaric and savage conflict.

Warm Regards,

Editor of ReRun