Though I’d rather he hadn’t apologised …
Before I get to the principled sports presenter and former England, Spurs and Barcelona striker axed by the BBC on Sunday, ostensibly for failing to spot an antisemitic emoji; in fact for calling a genocide a genocide, let’s hear the eighty-one-second address made to the Commons today by Britain’s decidedly unprincipled prime minister.
We’ve seen a wave of Damascene conversions this week, by politicians and columnists waking up to the realisation they’ll be judged by history – who knows, by an international tribunal too: we can but hope – for their nineteen months as accessories to war crimes. Now Sir Keir too is deploring what Israel has been doing with the full backing of his own government.
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Also speaking today, here’s Owen Jones on the latest reminder of the sickness of a society that vilifies the opponents of mass murder while lauding as moderate, sensible and nuanced those who – slyly or brazenly as the case may be – give it their blessing.
And by that blessing, enable what otherwise would not be possible.
History will look back at this perversion of reality with disgust, and rightly so. History will also record that the BBC is complicit in genocide. Had Western media done their job then Israel’s genocide would never have been possible. If they had just told the truth from the very start, and treated that hideous truth with the gravity it deserves, then Western governments would never have been able to get away with arming Israel, with offering crucial diplomatic and political support and aid which made this genocide possible.
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And Zara Sultana:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5HQpLzwpYM
Excellent. And what a despicable reply by David Lammy
Returning back to the original GL point, this piece…..
https://skwawkbox.org/2025/05/21/lineker-forced-out-by-bbc-for-reposting-rat-post-were-these-zionists-sacked-for-their-rat-images-on-gaza/
…..points out, along with several pictorial examples, that the rat emoji and trope is used by Israeli apologists to portray Palestinians.
It seems more than reasonable to conclude that the video GL originally reposted used the rat emoji in that context.
However, the Israeli lobby and their apologists appear to have declared a monopoly on the use of the concept to suit themselves.
Another video clip interview with Zara Sultana:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvvbTEroGNc