Underfire Gary Lineker blasts Labour and vows to keep speaking out on Gaza

's underfire host has doubled down on his support for e and blasted the government's lack of action over Gaza. This week Lineker, 64, after sparking outrage by sharing an post about Zionism that included an antisemitic rat emoji - a vile caricature first used in the 1930s by the Nazis.

He afterwards: "I would never knowingly share anything antisemitic. It goes against everything I believe in." Now in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, the ex-England striker tried to explain the reason for his often incendiary social media posts - and slammed Labour for not taking a firm stand on Israel's attacks on .

Lineker said: "It's beyond depraved, what they're going through, unimaginable. Every day people are losing their children, their brothers and sisters. I don't know how the world thinks this is OK.

"We still seem to be on the side of the people who are doing this. We're still supplying arms. And you think, 'Wow, how?' The vast majority of people see it for what it is now.

"Unfortunately, the Government's not doing much about it. It comes down to power and money. But what we're allowing to happen is beyond the pale."

Lineker was criticised when on 7th October 2023 as Hamas launched an unprovoked, brutal slaughter of 1,141 men, women and children, many at a music festival, into southern Israel attack - his only social media post praised: "Super Spurs are top of the league."

But now he has doubled down on his opinion on the Middle-East conflict, saying of the Israeli response: "It has been completely out of proportion to what happened.

"Obviously, October 7 was awful, but it's very important to know your history and to study the massacres that happened prior to this, many of them against the Palestinian people.

"Yes, Israelis have a right to defend themselves. But it appears that Palestinians don't - and that is where it's wrong. Palestinians are caged in this outdoor prison in Gaza, and now it's an outdoor prison that they're bombing. Israel say it's self-defence, but really? Self-defence against what now?

"Yes, I understand that they needed to avenge, but I don't think they've helped their own hostage situation at all. People say it's a complex issue, but I don't think it is. It's inevitable that the Israeli occupation was going to cause massive problems, and I just feel for the Palestinians."

Since 1999 Lineker has hosted Match of The Day but that £1.35 million-a-year role is soon coming to an end.

When suggested his latest remarks may provoke a backlash Lineker quipped: "I don't really care about the backlash. I care about doing the right thing, or what I think is the right thing.

"Some people can disagree, that's fine. But I have to look at myself in the mirror. I think if you're silent on these issues, you're almost complicit.

"You either have empathy or you don't. It's more important now than ever before that people raise their voices, because we live in dangerous times.

"I'll definitely continue pushing humanitarian issues. Sometimes they cross over with politics, although I've never been overly loud with my politics.

"Nobody knows who I vote for - I've voted for lots of different parties over many years. You feel sometimes like you're fairly helpless, like you can't really do anything. But you have to live with yourself. That's the important thing."