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In this image taken from video, police escort Zionist Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters to the metro, after anti-genocide protesters marched near the soccer stadium, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Thursday, November 7, 2024. [AP Photo\/InterVision]<\/p>\n
WMP faced enormous pressure from pro-Zionist forces to have the decision overturned, including an intervention on October 16\u2014more than three weeks before the match\u2014by Prime Minister Keir Starmer who perversely claimed that it was the Maccabi supporters who should feel unsafe in Birmingham! \u201cWe 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,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
A witch-hunt has been ongoing ever since. Guildford stepped down after the publication on January 14 of the preliminary findings of an investigation by HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Andy Cooke, into WMP\u2019s handling of the Maccabi fixture. The investigation was commissioned by Mahmood on October 31, again, before the match went ahead.<\/p>\n
Cooke criticised in his report, \u201cI note that WMP spoke only to Dutch police. It appears that the force didn\u2019t speak to policing counterparts in other jurisdictions where Maccabi Tel Aviv had more recently played European fixtures.\u201d But it was in Amsterdam that Maccabi fans\u2019 behaviour required the presence of up to 2,000 police\u2014why on earth would this not be the focus on inquiries?<\/p>\n
Cooke goes to extraordinary length to downplay the significance of these events, essentially making light of anti-Muslim hatred and violence.<\/p>\n Countering the WMP\u2019s warning that \u201cThe day before the [Ajax] fixture saw approximately 500\u2013600 Maccabi fans apparently intentionally targeting Muslim communities\u201d, he answers: \u201cThere is evidence that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans targeted Muslims and pro-Palestinians, but they targeted individuals rather than residential communities.\u201d<\/p>\n As for references to \u201cserious assaults on Muslim taxi drivers,\u201d writes Cooke, \u201cOne of the official Dutch reports contains a reference to a single report of an assault on one taxi driver. Other taxi cars and motor scooters were attacked and damaged, but it is unclear if they were occupied at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n About the \u201ctearing down [of] Palestine flags\u201d, he responds: \u201cThe Dutch police told us one Palestinian flag had been pulled down. In official Dutch reports, there are three recorded incidents involving flags.\u201d<\/p>\n Even an injury to a police officer is understated by the former Chief Constable of Merseyside Police. Of the WMP\u2019s claim that \u201cSeveral [Dutch police] officers were injured during the sustained confrontation\u201d, Cooke demurs that it was just one officer who had \u201csustained hearing loss during the disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n He concludes, \u201cI am of the opinion that in its written communication, WMP portrayed the level of disorder at that fixture, and the part played by Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters, as greater than it really was.\u201d<\/p>\n The contrast between this minimisation of real crimes and the slandering of the peaceful demonstrations of millions against the genocide in Gaza\u2014which have been branded violent hate marches\u2014is revolting.<\/p>\n Cooke was extending a campaign of lies began immediately after the scenes in Amsterdam, with the BBC portraying the Maccabi fans largely as innocent bystanders who were themselves attacked. <\/p>\n The broadcaster used footage of Maccabi thugs carrying out assaults alongside a clip of a Maccabi supporter saying, \u201cSuddenly a lot of people come to attack us. A lot of people, like 100, maybe more, with belts and sticks and rocks. They took everything that they can to beat Israeli Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n So grotesquely false was this presentation that the broadcaster was forced to apologise, but only after 41 days\u2014once the coverage had played its part in a hysterical press campaign that even accused Amsterdamers of organizing pogroms against Jews<\/a>\u2014and \u201cproving\u201d how irrational the police had been to ban the Maccabi supporters. The correction was announced on December 23 to minimise the viewership.<\/p>\n Cooke\u2019s report also threw in the red herring that part of WMP\u2019s research included an AI hallucinated claim that \u201cThe most recent match Maccabi Tel Aviv played in the UK was against West Ham United in the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage on 9th November 2023\u201d. No such fixture took place. This obviously had no bearing whatsoever on the many well-documented acts of violence.<\/p>\n In fact, just days after WMP made their decision, police in Tel Aviv cancelled a local derby match between Maccabi and rivals Hapoel after fans rioted outside and inside their shared Bloomfield Stadium.<\/p>\n The very day Cooke issued his report, amid Mahmood\u2019s demands that Guildford step down, Maccabi supporters were filmed attacking Palestinians in Jaffa<\/a>. The New Arab website reported, \u201cFootage posted to social media showed Maccabi fans, dressed in the team\u2019s colours, throwing objects at the owner and staff at a Palestinian-owned car wash. The fans can be heard chanting \u201cDeath to Arabs\u201d.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/35bf628b-45f8-4f25-8ce7-3b0cfd3d410f.png\"\/)
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Prime Minister Keir Starmer appoints Shabana Mahmood as Home Secretary in 10 Downing Street, September 5, 2025 [Photo by Simon Dawson\/No 10 Downing Street \/