At the weekend, the actor Hugh Bonneville spoke angrily of how he had been attacked for criticising Israel over Gaza and not, as he put it, staying in his lane. How dare a mere actor comment was, he contended, the burden of the attacks on him.
Except that wasn’t the point of the criticisms at all. As one of those who wrote about him, I can repeat to him that the issue has nothing to do with his profession. Ronald Reagan was an actor. So was Glenda Jackson. They had every right to contribute to political debate. Idris Elba has been knighted for his work on knife crime – work which is enhanced by his fame, but is grounded in reality, evidence and facts.
The issue with Bonneville was that he was spouting drivel. He was presenting as fact something that simply wasn’t true, as a moment’s research would have told him. Bonneville was ranting over the Israeli government’s recent attempt to ensure that aid agencies which are involved in Gaza are not harbouring (whether intentionally or not) terrorist infiltrators – as was Unrwa, the UN agency which was found to have employed some of the terrorists who took part in the massacre of October 7, 2023. Israel’s aim was to prevent more aid from being stolen by Hamas, so the Israeli government organisation overseeing distribution required that aid agencies must provide a list of their personnel involved in Gaza.
It only applies to those agencies which have previously refused to be vetted by the authorities, most of which have been subject to allegations that they have indeed been infiltrated by Hamas. None of the major aid players have any issue with Israel’s entirely sensible and basic requirement. But it was, presumably, a lot easier for him to spew out his ignorant rubbish and go with the flow of his sleb peers than to actually check the facts and risk not being able to launch a broadside against Israel.
Which brings us to Pep Guardiola. The Manchester City manager is, by common consent, one of the greatest football managers in history. His record is sublime and his approach to the game unique. But he is clearly not content to be a football legend. He is also now showing that where Gary Lineker treads, he needs to follow and that when it comes to pushing lies about Jews and Israel, he won’t be left behind.
Last month Guardiola flew to Barcelona to take part in what has been described as a rally for Palestinian children, but which in reality was merely another of the hate-fests with which we have all had to become so familiar since the slaughter of 1,200 Jews by Hamas in 2023. But this one was in Spain, so the hate was elevated beyond even what we are used to on the hate marches here, with calls for the notorious terrorist murderer Marwan Barghouti to be freed from prison and for the destruction of Israel.
It’s been a busy few days for Guardiola the Middle East sage. You’ve probably seen the pics of him in a keffiyeh at the Barcelona rally. On Tuesday he used the press conference before his team’s Carabao Cup semi final to lay it all on further. He twice, for example, spoke of the so-called "genocide" in Palestine, repeating the favoured blood libel de nos jours.
He elaborated on what is going on: "The powerful are cowards because they send innocent people to kill innocent people... while they are at home with heating when it’s cold and air conditioning when it’s hot." Were it anyone other than Guardiola speaking one might take this to be a cutting reference to Hamas’ leaders and their Qatari protectors, as they live out their lives in luxury hotels. But it’s Guardiola, so it was anything but that. Because this is the same Guardiola who was perfectly happy to be paid a fortune by the Qatari owners of Al Al Ahli SC, for whom he played.
When it comes to his bank balance, it seems, Guardiola’s outrage soon stops. Qatar funds terror? So what! Because like all the keffiyeh-wearing virtue signallers who are so keen to show the depth of their humanity, I can find no reference by Guardiola to Hamas or indeed any Palestinian terror, let alone any criticism of it. Not today, not last year, when he also spoke about Gaza, and not after the October 7, 2023 massacre when he said…nothing.
“The bombs want us to look the other way. We must simply not look the other way and get involved…All of this is simply about humanity. Which is everything that is not happening in Palestine." Humanitarian sentiments, perhaps. But also some of the most jaw dropping hypocrisy you will ever see.
Guardiola’s Man City plays a few miles from Heaton Park synagogue, where Jews were killed because they were Jewish. As the Manchester Jewish Rep Council puts it: “We have repeatedly asked for prominent individuals to be mindful about the words they use given how Jewish people have had to endure attacks across the globe…It’s especially galling given his total failure to use his significant platform to display any solidarity with the Jewish community subjected to a deadly terrorist attack a few miles from the Etihad Stadium…”
Guardiola presumably thinks he is a decent human being calling out the indecency of others. In reality, when he opens his mouth he simply confirms that he is an ignorant, bigoted hypocrite.
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