Maccabi Tel Aviv Ban: The Hypocrisy and Failure of the West Midlands Police

Image - Matt Palmer

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Ahead of the Europa League face-off between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv on the 6^th of November, West Midlands Police ruled that the Israeli club fans would be banned from attendance, based off of claims of violence and hostility from the fans. It’s since emerged that this claim was built on entirely fabricated intelligence amid claims of underlying organisational antisemitism; it’s prompted an investigation into the Constabulary, disapproval from the Prime Minister and most importantly, concern among British Jews.

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In support of their ruling, West Midlands Police provided justifications for their decision, often citing the response of Dutch Authorities following the riots that took place during the Europa League game between Dutch side Ajax, and Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2024.

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Recent developments have proven a stark difference, however, between the report by the Dutch Authorities, and the citations West Midlands Police have used on the Dutch report.

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West Midlands police claimed that Israeli fans threw ‘innocent members of the public into the river’, that 5,000 Dutch police officers were deployed, that Maccabi fans were ‘highly organised, skilled fighters with serious desire and will to fight with police and opposing groups’, and that over 500 Maccabi Tel Aviv fans ‘intentionally targeted Muslim communities’.

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The recently surfaced Dutch police account portrays a very different story.

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The Dutch confirmed a fan was thrown into the river, but a Maccabi fan, being forced to say ‘Free Palestine’, they denied having over 5,000 police, saying there was a maximum of 1,200 at once, they produced evidence of Muslim gangs orchestrating a “Jew hunt” for “cancer Jews” organised in WhatsApp groups, and did not recognise the claim of Israeli fans having a desire of fighting the police. Furthermore, the facts of the Amsterdam clash presented by Amsterdam Police Chief Peter Holla stated out of the 59 suspects arrested during the clashes surrounding the game, only 10 were Israeli, with the remaining 49 from the Netherlands.

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The evidence of West Midlands Police trying to force a ban on Israeli fans using constructed evidence is most obvious when they made the claim that 200 of the fans were ‘linked’ to the IDF; military conscription mandates a ‘link’, rendering this justification meaningless and useless.

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Of course, serious concerns have been raised in Parliament.

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The Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp highlighted the breach of impartiality of two councillors on the Safety Advisory Group, Wasem Zaffar and Mumtaz Hussain, that contributed to the debate on the ban, who’d both previously expressed ‘vehement anti-Israel views’. The Home Office Minister Sarah Jones responded by initiating an investigation into how police forces ‘provide risk assessment’, and an enquiry by the home affairs committee is currently in progress, with correspondence regarding the use of fabricated evidence having been sent to West Midlands Police chief constable Craig Guildford, asking for a response by the 19^thof December.

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This case does not present as a mere mishap by the West Midlands Constabulary. It presents a serious concern to UK Jews, and poses serious questions regarding the decision-making process of our police forces.

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As Prime Minister Kier Starmer said, ‘The role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation.’ – when a police force bans an entire group of people from attending an event, they haven’t succeeded in preventing a potential disaster, rather it has failed in implementing the rule of law and protecting rights; even if their evidence held weight, the police should ensure they’re prepared to meet demands, which protects the right of innocent football fans to enjoy their game.

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This sentiment was echoed by Manchester police chief Sir Stephen Watson, saying on LBC news that ‘banning is generally problematic both practically and tactically’, and that he’d police the match in ‘accordance with the intelligence’, and that in the case of ‘good’ intelligence proving a problematic crowd, the default position would be to let fans go, and that ‘we would scale up our resourcing and we would police it accordingly’.

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Following the Manchester Synagogue stabbings, the horrific massacre that took place on Bondi Beach killing at least 15 people in an attack targeting a Jewish Chanukah celebration, and the unprecedented 58% increase in antisemitic incidents per month than before October 7^th 2023, there is no surprise that sentiment from UK Jews echo a desire for governmental action. Polling by Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) revealed that a majority of British Jews do not feel they have a ‘long-term future in the UK’ (51%), have considered leaving Britain in the past two years (61%), and try ‘not to show visible signs of their Jewishness due to concerns relating to antisemitism’ (59%). This data makes it unsurprising that the vast majority of British Jews do not think that the authorities are doing enough to tackle religious extremism (91%), nor political extremism (89%).

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The West Midlands Police decision to ban Israeli football fans are a symptom of governmental inaction that has allowed the venom of anti-Jewish hate to be worn proudly.