Gary Lineker criticised by Israel supporters for retweeting video of caged Palestinian youths

The former England footballer found himself in a Twitter row with a former spokesman for the Israeli army

Former England footballer Gary Lineker found himself embroiled in a Twitter row with a former Israeli official. Yuri Kadobnov/ AFP Photo

Gary Lineker has been criticised on Twitter after he shared a video of Palestinian children being held in a cage by Israeli forces.

The former England footballer retweeted a video shared by a pro-Palestinian journalist which shows Israeli soldiers aggressively capturing and detaining Palestinians in the West Bank, with the comment “sickening”.

Mr Lineker, who is a vocal supporter of political causes on social media, found himself embroiled in a Twitter row with the former spokesman for the Israeli army, Peter Lerner, who accused the football pundit of missing the point.

“Sorry, Gary, you've completely missed the point. When kids throw stones they are a public menace. They need to be stopped. Yes, the video is unpleasant but it conveniently shares only a glimpse of what happened, the aftermath of their actions. You should be wiser than this. #Fail,” Mr Lerner responded.

The former Leicester City star hit back: “They should be stuffed into a small cage? You should be wiser. #fail.”

The back and forth continued with the former Israeli lieutenant saying Mr Lineker’s tweet was “extremely lacking context”.

However, the 57-year-old was praised by some Twitter users for bringing attention to the plight of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including by film director Ken Loach and Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters.

Mr Lineker found himself in a Twitter row in 2015 after he shared a video of Israeli soldiers shooting a Palestinian who had been throwing stones.