Gary Lineker has shared a video of “notorious” antizionist Tony Greenstein comparing Zionism to Nazism.
Greenstein was cleared of inviting support for Hamas last week and also narrowly avoided a contempt charge, according to the Press Association.
Speaking outside Kingston Crown Court, he said: “A jury of 12 men and women decided that I was not a terrorist and that terrorism is not opposition to genocide in Gaza.
“And I stood here as a Jewish person, and I made it clear to the jury that my opposition to Zionism was because I was Jewish, and that Zionism is in the tradition of the Nazis who persecuted Jews.”
The terrorism act isn’t about terrorism, it’s about terrorising people who oppose genocide, says Tony Greenstein, acquitted today — @CAGEintl pic.twitter.com/3rtMftIBvg
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) August 21, 2026
During his trial, Greenstein said that he believed the October 7 attacks were “justified” and that he supported Hamas as “part of the resistance” but not “as an organisation”.
The 72-year-old, whose father was an Orthodox rabbi, is a longtime anti-Israel activist and, in 2020, a court dismissed his claim that the Campaign Against Antisemitism had libelled him by referring to him as a “notorious antisemite”.
A clip of the speech was posted by CAGE International, a human rights advocacy group with a focus on the detention of Muslims during the War on Terror, and this was subsequently reposted by Lineker.
The former Leicester, Spurs and England striker stepped down from his role as host of the BBC’s Match of the Day “by mutual agreement” last year amid backlash over another social media post he shared, which featured a clip of an academic condemning Zionism and an image of a rat, drawing allegations of antisemitism.
Lineker has insisted that he did not see the rat image and that he is not antisemitic but “anti-child killing,” and has condemned the October 7 attacks as “horrible”.
Addressing the post last month, he said that it was “self-harming” and that he was annoyed at himself for sharing it as it gave critics a “chance to have a pop” at him.
Dave Rich, head of policy for the CST, reshared the clip of Greenstein’s speech with the caption: “If you still need evidence that Gary Lineker has been radicalised well beyond ordinary ‘criticism of Israel’ and is promoting much more toxic ideas and people.”
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