A cricket pundit for the BBC has apologised over social media activity in which he appeared to suggest that Hamas was justified in attacking Israel on October 7.
Qasim Sheikh, who previously played cricket for Scotland, also shared a post that showed world politicians, including Benjamin Netanyahu, Rishi Sunak, and Joe Biden, with Hitler-style moustaches and labelled, “Kid Killers Union”.
The X/Twitter user who originally shared the photo had written above it, “remember these child killers.”
Last month, Sheikh condemned Sir Keir Starmer and Sunak as “genocide enablers”.
Shortly the October 7 attack against Israel, he wrote on social media: "The UK/US instantly stand with Israel today, although have stayed quiet for years on the atrocity committed by Israel over Palestine.
"Claiming Palestine has no justification to attack, don’t they have a right to defend themselves.”
Sheikh shared the post on his X/Twitter account (Photo: X/Twitter)[Missing Credit]
Orly Goldschmidt, a spokesperson for the Israeli embassy to the UK, said: “We condemn all antisemitic acts and remarks.
"We expect the BBC to uphold its stated editorial values and standards, and believe such standards should be applied wherever such antisemitic rhetoric occurs within the organisation.”
Responding to outrage over the posts this week, Sheikh insisted he did not support Hamas terrorism.
“If my messages have caused people to think I am supporting the attacks of October 7, then that would not sit well with me, and I apologise for any offence this has caused,” he said.
"I would never seek to support any loss of innocent lives. That was not my intention.
“I welcome the opportunity to clearly state my views. I have been clear from the outset that the killing of innocent lives is wrong. There is no way I would support what happened on Oct 7 as acceptable, it was morally reprehensible.
“As is the ongoing situation in Gaza where many innocent lives continue to be lost – many of which are women and children. I will continue to call for a stop on the killing of innocent civilians, my message is clear for a ceasefire and a stop to all conflict.”
Sheikh is due to provide commentary for the BBC for the T20 World Cup cricket tournament, which started at the weekend.
The national broadcaster has been repeatedly criticised for anti-Israel bias over the eight months since Israel launched its war in Gaza.
Last month, Danny Cohen, the corporation’s former director of television, said its Gaza coverage had “sunk to new lows”.
Writing for The Telegraph, he said the BBC had employed people who defended the October 7 massacre.
"This means that our licence fees are paying the wages of people who celebrated the rape and slaughter of men, women and children,” Cohen continued.
"How can this be possible? Why should we accept it? If any other publicly funded organisation supported terrorist sympathisers, the outcry would be enormous.
"Yet the BBC seems to be impervious to its problems, unwilling to recognise and address the management failures that are poisoning one of Britain’s great institutions.”
The BBC has been contacted for comment.
