Cricket whistle-blower Azeem Rafiq has met a Holocaust survivor after it was revealed he sent anti-Semitic messages as a 19-year-old.

The former Yorkshire player toured the Jewish museum in north London and met 86-year-old Ruth Barnett who fled Nazi Germany aged four.

Last week Rafiq’s evidence before MPs in Westminster rocked the world of cricket as he explained how his career at Headingley had been blighted by racism.

Two days after his evidence it came to light that he had sent messages a decade earlier that mocked Jewish people.

Ruth Barnett explained to Rafiq how anti-Semitism had featured throughout her life. She told him: “I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t escaped.”

“I would recommend that everyone is introduced to a few Jews and find out that they are just human – flaws and all.”

When asked by the Jewish Chronicle about what he had learned from the meeting the cricketer said: “I just feel if I had had more interaction and more understanding like I have had this morning I have already learned some things that I never knew.

Michael Vaughan: BBC drops former England cricket captain from Ashes coverage following Yorkshire racism claims

Azeem Rafiq racism claims: Dozens contact Yorkshire cricket’s whistleblowing hotline in first week

‘Stuck in the dark ages’: Sajid Javid says sports bodies are failing to tackle racism

“It just feels like we don’t get on the same table together enough,” Rafiq said.

Follow the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

Following his account of racism at Yorkshire, many others within the game have stepped forward with similar stories of abuse.

It’s prompted the England and Wales Cricket Board to promise widespread change within the sport.

The ECB is expected to publish this week details of a 12-point plan to radically improve inclusivity within cricket.

Related posts:

Final HS2 protester removed from Euston tunnel network ‘His spirit lives on’: Military flypast among tributes at Captain Sir Tom Moore funeral Second World War bomb detonated after 2,600 people evacuated Sturgeon says Scotland ‘likely’ to keep COVID restrictions for further three weeks Nearly nine in 10 areas in UK seeing rise in COVID cases Wales to ease COVID rules from Saturday – but face masks still needed indoors and on public transport Euro 2020 final could have been abandoned without police intervention, says Met Ex-Sunderland footballer jailed for beating his father to death on Christmas Eve Recall on Tesco cough medicine which was incorrectly labelled ‘An otherworldly beauty’: Wildlife Photographer of the Year crowns the best animal images of 2021 Insulate Britain blocks M25 to demand insulation of UK homes despite injunction FIFA condemns crowd trouble at Wembley after Hungary fans clash with police