The Prime Minister has claimed a decision to block fans of the Israeli club from the match at Aston Villa in the Europa League is “wrong”.
Senior cabinet ministers, including Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, are due to meet on Friday to “find a way through”.
But journalist Peter Oborne, who writes extensively about Maccabi Tel Aviv fans’ history of violence and racism in his book Complicit: Britain’s Role in the Destruction of Gaza, has insisted Starmer needs to backtrack.
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West Midlands police said on Thursday they had classified the fixture as “high-risk” based on intelligence and previous incidents, including “violent clashes and hate crime offences” between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv fans last November.
On the day of the match, hundreds of Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters took to the streets of Amsterdam and some were filmed tearing down Palestinian flags while others chanted anti-Palestinian slogans including “Why is school out in Gaza? There are no children left there.”
On the streets, one rioter was seen scaling a building to rip down a Palestinian flag.
Meanwhile, Amsterdam’s police chief said Maccabi supporters attacked a taxi and set a Palestinian flag on fire the day before the match.
Oborne said Starmer needs to explain why he has taken this position over the ban.
He said: “Starmer fails to mention the fact that Maccabi football fans have a disgusting record of racism and violence. I doubt [fans of] any club in Europe would be allowed into Britain on that basis alone because it would be very hard to control them.
(Image: Mark F Gibson)
“It seems to me the decision of the police may have been sensible because of the record of violence from the Maccabi fans. They were filmed behaving violently in Amsterdam, picking up pieces of wood, rampaging through the streets.
“I think Mr Starmer needs to explain why he has taken this position on a decision made for sensible security reasons by West Midlands Police.”
Oborne added: “I think he [Starmer] ought to withdraw his statement.
“Mr Starmer has got a lot of serious things to be getting on with a national level, and I would’ve thought he would leave the West Midlands Police to make up their own mind about how to conduct themselves.
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“It seems to me Starmer is making reckless statements about a situation he knows nothing about.”
In the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam, just before kick-off, Tel Aviv fans ignored a moment of silence honouring recent flood victims in Spain and continued to chant throughout.
Other footage from the night showed Israeli fans being attacked. One video appeared to show a car mounting the pavement and running over one of the Israeli fans.
Dutch police confirmed that more than 60 individuals were arrested in the aftermath of the violent confrontations. City officials described the violence as a “toxic combination of antisemitism, hooliganism, and anger” over the war in Gaza.
The move to ban away fans from the fixture in Birmingham comes amid growing calls to ban Israeli football teams from international competition over Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
More than 30 legal experts wrote earlier this month to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, saying that banning Israel from competitions was “imperative.
At the time of the violence in Amsterdam, the New York Times had to issue a clarification over a video that did not include key context about Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.
A photographer with the Twitter/X username “iAnnet” recorded the footage but then Annet noticed that many outlets were ignoring the context she provided, with a screenshot of her video of Maccabi fans chasing pedestrians presented as antisemitic violence.
The photographer shared the correction on her social media, writing that New York Times journalist Christiaan Triebert had fact-checked the story with her.
The correction stated: “An earlier version of this article included a video distributed by Reuters with a script about Israeli fans being attacked. Reuters has since issued a correction saying it is unclear who is depicted in the footage.
“The video’s author told the New York Times it shows a group of Maccabi fans chasing a man on the street – a description The Times independently confirmed with other verified footage from the scene. The video has been removed.”
Sky News also came under fire after footage shared on social media showed how the broadcaster edited footage of violence in Amsterdam.