British Officials Debate Whether Ban on Israeli Soccer Fans Is Truly a Concern Over Security or Something More Sinister

It may not yet be “game over” for the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans currently banned from attending the November 6 Europa League match against Birmingham, England’s hometown favorites, Aston Villa. Despite efforts by critics of Israel, Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group, which recommended the ban after a campaign led by a former Hezbollah fighter, is meeting this week to determine whether national and West Midland Police can beef up security protocols to accommodate Israeli soccer fans.Reconsideration of the ban has been pressed by Great Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, and others who say local officials are using safety concerns as an excuse for antisemitism. The decision to ban Maccabi fans came after the Belgium-based Hind Rajab Foundation, chaired by Hezbollah’s Dyab Abou Jahjah, sent a “Game Over Israel” dossier to West Midlands Police last week, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail. The document was key to the decision by police to prevent Maccabi fans from attending, the paper reports. Mr. Abou Jahjah, a proud member of Hezbollah who is banned from the U.K. for his pro-terrorist stances, has called Israelis the equivalent of Nazis and warned police that Jewish fans arriving at a Muslim-dense town such as Birmingham will lead to tension and disorder. In the dossier, he cited as justification for the ban the November 2024 melee at Amsterdam when Maccabi and Ajax fans clashed after a league game. The dust-up began ahead of the match, when some Maccabi fans marching with Israeli flags in a main square burnt a Palestinian flag, inciting a mass reaction by local Ajax and pro-Palestinian supporters. The crowds erupted after the game and targeted Israeli fans across the city. Police arrested 62 people while seven fans were hospitalized and another 20-30 suffered minor injuries. Israeli officials had to send in rescue planes to airlift the fans out of the city.In the aftermath, Amsterdam’s mayor, Femke Halsema, called the fighting a “toxic cocktail of antisemitism, hooliganism, and great anger” over the Israeli-Hamas war, and condemned all racially motivated violence. “We emphasize that antisemitism cannot be answered with other forms of racism: the safety of one group cannot come at the expense of the safety of another,” she warned. The European League has already banned all fans from attending a Beșiktaș-Maccabi match scheduled for the end of November. The game is set to be played in Hungary, where it was moved after officials raised concerns about increased violence at Istanbul.A parliamentarian representing Birmingham, Ayoub Khan, who pushed for the ban — calling Jewish fans racists and hooligans — cited the cancellation of a Maccabi game at Tel Aviv on Sunday as proof that the decision is the correct one. He added that the team should not be allowed to play at all in the international league. However, with an anti-Israel track record by Mr. Ayoub and others supporting the ban, several British officials say the pretext of violence is merely an excuse for antisemitism.A group called UK Lawyers for Israel wrote in a letter to Aston Villa team executives that any attempt to ban Jewish “away” fans but not Aston Villa fans would violate Britain’s 2010 Equality Act. “Under the Equality Act, there is no ‘get out’ clause for discrimination on safety grounds. If Maccabi Tel Aviv fans are to be banned, then Aston Villa fans should also be banned, and the match played behind closed doors. If an event cannot be held safely without discrimination, the law requires that it not be held at all,” the chief executive of UK Lawyers for Israel, Jonathan Turner, said Sunday.Britain’s home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has said the government is doing everything in its power to “ensure all fans can safely attend the game.”“Antisemitism is a stain on our society that shames us all. Every football fan, whoever they are, should be able to watch their team in safety,” she wrote on X. However, Ms. Mahmoud has been criticized for her public statement since she was aware that the ban was under consideration before it was approved. Britain’s former prime minister, Liz Truss, said she expects the current government to do nothing about the ban “because they are very, very worried about the Muslim vote.” Muslims represent 6.5 percent of Britain’s population.“Many members of the Cabinet have been spending their time appeasing Islamist interest,” Ms. Truss told The New York Sun during an interview at New York City Sunday. “The Labor Party has done it systematically to buy votes.”If the decision on the ban is reversed, concerns have been raised that the dispute is a self-fulfilling prophecy because it has increased the odds of anti-Jewish violence bubbling over, leaving fans vulnerable as police are overwhelmed at the stadium and around town.

British Officials Debate Whether Ban on Israeli Soccer Fans Is Truly a Concern Over Security or Something More Sinister

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