IAN AUSTIN: Gary Lineker is undermining confidence in the BBC's impartiality and making its managers look utterly foolish. He can offend who he likes, but not while he is employed by the corporation

Gary Lineker can say what he likes about politics, the Government or the Middle East. He can offend those of us who think Israel needs to be able to defend itself against terrorism to his heart’s content.

But not while he is employed by the BBC.

Lineker never seems to miss an opportunity to parade his virtue. This weekend, the BBC’s most senior and well-paid football commentator retweeted a post calling for the country’s team to be banned from international competition. It was, to my mind, a blatant breach of BBC guidelines.

The original post was put out by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel – a group whose campaign singles out the Middle East’s only democracy for sanctions and boycotts.

It is a campaign to strip the world’s only Jewish state of legitimacy, not because BDS oppose its government and their policies or even its campaign to rid Gaza of terrorists – but, I firmly believe, because they want to undermine support for the country itself and ultimately see it abolished.

Former minister Ian Austin says it has become harder to defend the BBC’s licence fee

Of course, every civilian death in Gaza is a tragedy – but innocent people in Gaza are at risk because Hamas terrorists hide themselves and their rockets in densely packed residential areas, hospitals and schools.

Yesterday marked a hundred days since Hamas terrorists invaded peaceful Israeli villages and a music party.

More than 1,400 were murdered. Young women were raped, families were tied together and burnt alive and civilians were kidnapped. More than a hundred are still held hostage as human shields in Hamas tunnels.

Israel isn’t perfect. What country is?

But of the 380million Arab citizens living in two dozen countries stretching across the Middle East, the only ones in a free democracy are the 1.9million in Israel.

Gary Lineker retweeted a post about Israel’s football team being banned from competitions

Uniquely for the Middle East, people of all backgrounds in the country – Jews, Arabs, practising Muslims and Christians – are treated completely equally.

For decades, Arab Israelis have proudly joined Jewish ones in pulling on the blue and white shirt and representing Israel in international matches.

The Israeli system upholds equal rights for all with freedom of speech and assembly for everyone. The education system, health services, the police and armed forces are completely integrated. Arabic is an official language and there is a large Arabic media.

And the Israeli football team is a shining example of the equality on which the country is based, with Jewish and Arab Israelis playing together as teammates. Until March, Bebras Natcho, a Muslim, was captain of the national team.

Compare Israel’s record on equality with Qatar, a country whose national broadcaster, Al Jazeera, paid Lineker £1.6million over four years until 2013, to front their Champions League coverage. A former United Nations special rapporteur on racism, E Tendayi Achiume, said Qatar operates a de facto caste system based on national origin with the vast majority of low-paid migrant workers coming from Asia and Africa.

Israel plays in UEFA events because Arab countries banned them from playing in Asian competitions in 1974. No other country was singled out. Not even Saddam Hussein’s Iraq – which violated human rights on an industrial scale.

There are 200 land-based disputes in the world, but Israel’s detractors hold this one nation to standards never applied to other countries.

Israeli fans cheer their team at a Euros qualifying match against England in Tel Aviv

The BBC guidelines are clear: ‘Everyone who works for the BBC should ensure their activity on social media platforms does not compromise the perception of or undermine the impartiality and reputation of the BBC.’

Lineker, the face of BBC football, is undermining confidence in the impartiality on which the BBC’s public funding depends and is making the corporation’s board and senior managers look utterly foolish.

I have spent decades standing up for the BBC and defending the licence fee, but it is becoming harder and harder to do so in the light of his offensive outbursts.

Fingers crossed that the new chairman Samir Shah finally gets a grip and restores confidence in our national broadcaster.

Lord Austin of Dudley was minister for the West Midlands from 2008 to 2010.