Accusations of antisemitism followed the banning of Israeli football fans from attending an away game of a Tel Aviv team in Birmingham, England next month over concerns police would not be able to control protests against them.
Fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv football club are banned from a forthcoming Europa League game at Aston Villa in Aston, Birmingham on November 6th because of security concerns, Aston Villa revealed in a statement. They said that West Midlands Police had said they have “public safety concerns” over their “ability to deal with any potential protests on the night”.
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were subject to what some observers called a “Pogrom” when their fans attended a game in Amsterdam earlier this year, and their presence was protested by pro-Palestine activists at a stadium in Greece where they played in September.
Aston politician Ayoub Khan MP, who is one of the group of pro-Gaza platform politicians elected last year and who campaigned against allowing Israeli fans to come to Birmingham celebrated the news on Thursday night. In a statement he emoted: “I welcome the news that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans will not be permitted to watch the match at Aston Villa! Well done to all those that signed our petition!”.
Both the decision to ban Israeli football fans from England’s second city and the jubilant response by the local Member of Parliament Khan came in for sharp criticism on Thursday night. Tory Jack Rankin MP was direct in his condemnation, calling Khan “an unintegrated, racist antisemite” for his work to block Israeli football fans.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called the ban “shameful” and called on the UK government to act.
Reform UK’s Danny Kruger came forth with advice on how this might be achieved. Calling the decision “outrageous”, saying the Home Secretary had the legal option to sack the Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police if required. Party leader Nigel Farage said the decision “takes racial discrimination to a whole new level.”
The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, appeared to respond from something of a position of detachment, criticising the decision without apparently realising as the political leader of the United Kingdom he could probably do something about it, if so inclined. He said in his statement: “This is the wrong decision. We will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets. The role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation.”
Robert Jenrick, the defacto Conservative leader pointed to the irony of Birmingham having been the centre of another controversy only days before after he’d pointed out how unintegrated it is. Jenrick was the target of sustained criticism for having pointed out on a recent visit to the city he hadn’t seen “another white face”. He said today: “Last week I was attacked for pointing out that parts of Birmingham were a failure of integration.
“But now Israeli football fans are banned from watching their team play at Villa Park as the police can’t guarantee their safety. Maybe I wasn’t wrong after all.”
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