LONDON

Ex-BBC presenter and footballer Gary Lineker has criticized the BBC for failing to show a Gaza documentary, saying the broadcaster should "hold its head in shame."

The former Match of the Day presenter said people at "the very top of the BBC" had been failing over the Israel-Palestine conflict, following the corporation’s controversial decision to drop Gaza: Doctors Under Attack documentary about the plight of medics in Gaza.

It marks the first time Lineker has openly criticized the BBC after he left the company in May.

Speaking at a private viewing of the Gaza medics documentary in London on Thursday night, he said: "It needed to be seen, it really did need to be seen – I think everyone would agree with that."

"I think the BBC should hold its head in shame," said Lineker, adding that there are good people at the BBC too who are under pressure from the top.

"As someone who’s worked for the corporation for 30 years, to see the way it’s declined in the last year or two has been devastating really, because I’ve defended it and defended it against claims that it’s partial. It talks about impartiality all the time."

"The problem is they’re bowing to the pressure from the top. This is a worry and I think time’s coming where a lot of people are going to be answerable to this, and complicity is something that will come to many," he added.

On Wednesday, more than 400 stars and media figures called on the BBC management for the removal of a board member over "opaque decisions made at senior levels" on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The documentary was first commissioned by the BBC but then shelved as it said it "risked creating a perception of partiality."

The documentary, which was aired on Channel 4 Wednesday night, recounts how health system in the Gaza Strip has been overwhelmed, bombed and raided amid Israeli assaults, which continue since October 2023.