Ministers are attempting to overturn a police ban on Israeli supporters from attending a Europa League match away to Aston Villa next month.
Supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv have been banned from attending their Europa League match away to Aston Villa next month.
West Midlands police advised Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG) to hold the match at Villa Park on November 6 without away supporters due to safety concerns around the stadium, a decision that has been condemned by Jewish political leaders and Sir Keir Starmer.
Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, is meeting officials to “discuss what more can be done to try and find a way through to resolve this”. The Home Office is working to “support police to try and find a way through this”. The secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, Steve Reed, has also spoken to the local council.
Starmer will do “everything in his power to give Jewish communities the security they deserve”, the spokesman added.
“We should not have a country where we have to tell people to stay away from certain events because we cannot protect them, or they may be a victim of racism.”
The Times revealed that travelling fans were set to be banned after the police force’s recommendation, which came after a number of threats were made around the match, raising fears of antisemitic attacks.
PAOK fans displayed a huge banner reading “show Israel the red card” during their Europa League match in September
AP PHOTO/GIANNIS PAPANIKOS
The decision by the SAG was later confirmed by Villa, who said in a statement: “Aston Villa can confirm the club has been informed that no away fans may attend the Uefa Europa League match with Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday, November 6, following an instruction from the Safety Advisory Group.
The Home Office was briefed last week about the possibility that the SAG could restrict visiting fans.
The UK Football Policing Unit said that it briefed the Home Office about the “potential issues and options that the Safety Advisory Group may take including restrictions on visiting fans”.
“It is important that we respect and support the structures in place for making these decisions,” the unit added, saying if there are any “adverse incidents” then those bodies are the ones that will be held responsible.
If the government wanted a role in regulating football events then they needed to bring forward legislation, it added.
“West Midlands Police have advised the SAG that they have public safety concerns [about] outside the stadium bowl and the ability to deal with any potential protests on the night. The club are in continuous dialogue with Maccabi Tel Aviv and the local authorities throughout this ongoing process, with the safety of supporters attending the match and the safety of local residents at the forefront of any decision.”
The West Midlands police and crime commissioner, Simon Foster, has requested a review of the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.
He said: “The purpose of my request for a review is to enable the SAG and WMP to determine whether or not this decision and recommendation is appropriate, necessary, justified, reasonable and a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. That must include consideration of all and any suitable alternative options.”
However, any decision is “ultimately” a matter for the SAG and police, he added.
The leader of Birmingham city council, John Cotton, also asked for a review, saying fans “should not be prevented from attending a football match in our city because of threats of violence”.
Watch: Kemi Badenoch calls ban a “national disgrace”
The Community Security Trust, which provides protection for Jewish communities in the UK, had advised police that the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans would be seen as antisemitic.
West Midlands Police is believed to have contacted the CST last week to ask how they thought the Jewish community might react to a ban on Israeli fans attending the football match. The trust is understood to have advised that the community would likely be angry and upset and that the ban would widely be seen as antisemitic.
The prime minister wrote on social media: “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.”
Andrew Fox told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the decision was a “political message rather than a safety message” as there was “no evidence of Maccabi’s fans being particularly violent”. There are “pretty well established ways” of keeping separate fan groups apart, he added.
Jeremy Corbyn and his fellow Independent MP Ayoub Khan had called on the government and Uefa to cancel the match or put restrictions on Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters. The petition cited the “ongoing genocide in Gaza” and the “track record of violence” of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.
Khan, the Pro-Palestine MP whose Birmingham Perry Barr constituency includes Villa Park, welcomed the decision to ban the fans, saying in a statement that “with so much hostility and uncertainty around the match, it was only right to take drastic measures”. He said on BBC Newsnight: “We are talking about violent fans and I think the prime minister should stay out of operational matters.”
Zarah Sultana, another Independent MP who co-founded the new Your Party with Corbyn, called for Uefa to “ban all Israeli teams”. In a statement on X she said: “We cannot have normalisation with genocide and apartheid.”
Uefa said fans should be able to travel to support their team in a “safe environment”. In a statement, it said: “Uefa wants fans to be able to travel and support their team in a safe, secure and welcoming environment, and encourages both teams and the competent authorities to agree on the implementation of appropriate measures necessary to allow this to happen.”
Jack Angelides, the CEO of Maccabi Tel Aviv, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the decision was “unfair” and had been met with “dismay”.
He acknowledged that there were “elements in all clubs that misbehave” but said that “to paint in a broad brush the behaviour of few to all is unfair”. He added that to suggest the team’s fans were “instigators and not the victims” of the events following the Ajax match was “false”.
Angelides said the team has British and Jewish fans who “are being told that in their own country it is not safe for them to come to watch a football match”.
Emily Damari, a British-Israeli who was held hostage by Hamas, said she was “shocked” by the decision and likened it to “putting a big sign on the outside of a stadium saying: ‘No Jews allowed’”.
The Maccabi Tel Aviv and Tottenham Hotspur fan said: “I am shocked to my core with this outrageous decision to ban me, my family and my friends from attending an Aston Villa game in the UK.
“Football is a way of bringing people together irrespective of their faith, colour or religion, and this disgusting decision does the exact opposite. What has become of the UK where blatant antisemitism has become the norm? What a sad world we are living in.”
Sources said that the pressure groups Game Over Israel and the Hind Rajab Foundation had urged police and Uefa to prevent Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending the match.
Louie French, the shadow sports minister, said: “This decision is a sad reflection of the antisemitism and sectarian hatred that the UK government has spectacularly failed to get a grip on. The government must urgently seek to overturn this decision, sending a clear message that the UK remains open and safe for international sports fans.”
For Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Europa League match against the Greek side PAOK, about 120 travelling fans attended with heavy police protection, and there were protests outside the stadium over Israel’s war in Gaza. They are the only Israeli side in European club competition.
Fans in Thessaloniki also held up Palestinian flags
GETTY IMAGES
There were also clashes between Maccabi fans and pro-Palestinian protestors when the club played Ajax in Amsterdam in November last year. Four men were given jail terms for violence against the visiting team’s fans.
West Midlands police said in a statement that it “supports the decision to prohibit away supporters from attending. This decision is based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crime offences that occurred during the 2024 Uefa Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam.”
Asrar Rashid, an Islamic scholar from Birmingham, had highlighted plans to target the Israeli fans in a YouTube sermon this month. “When the Tel Aviv fans come to Birmingham in a few weeks, we will not show them [mercy] in Birmingham,” he said.
There were also protests when Israel’s national team played in Norway and Italy this week in World Cup qualifiers.
The ceasefire agreed in Gaza has meant that plans by Uefa to vote on suspending Israel have been put on hold. The Times revealed in August that several European clubs had asked Uefa if there was any way they could avoid playing Israeli opponents.
A ban on travelling fans at European matches on safety grounds is by no means unprecedented but this has created a political storm.
Ajax and Eintracht Frankfurt supporters were prevented from travelling to two Champions League matches last season against Napoli and Marseille respectively.
Naples police cited “the high risks to public order and safety”, while Ajax said the Marseille authorities had told them that fans would not be permitted “into the city or the stadium on grounds of public safety and security”.