British Establishment Kicking Off Over Recommendation to "Ban" Maccabi Tel Aviv Fans From Watching Their Team Play Aston Villa
Next Thursday, 23rd October, Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv travel to England to play Aston Villa in the Europa League. Based on a risk assessment carried out by West Midlands Police (WMP), Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG) made the decision to prevent Maccabi fans from attending the match. In wake of this announcement, the entire UK political and media establishment has been in uproar. Keir Starmer is said to be “angered” by the decision, and will do “everything in his power” to reverse the decision.
Away from the hysterical knee-jerk reactions and typically biased pro-Israeli sentiments, it’s important, as always, to seek out the context. Only then can we pass judgement on whether or not Maccabi fans are being “banned” from the game “because they are Israeli, and…because they’re Jewish”, or if the SAG are basing their decision on a very real risk to the safety of all involved in the match and the wider public.
The first thing to look at is the “thorough” risk assessment carried out by WMP. As a result of this assessment, the upcoming fixture has been classified as “high risk”, based on “current intelligence and previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crime offences that occurred during the 2024 Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam.”
Well, what happened in Amsterdam?
Maccabi Tel Aviv play Ajax in Amsterdam on 7th November
On 6th November, hooligan elements from within the Maccabi fanbase go on a bit of a rampage, pulling Palestinian flags from houses, vandalising properties, calling for “death to Arabs” (and more), and assaulting people. Apologists for this behaviour point to shouts of “Free Palestine” from the odd local taxi driver.
Plans are made by some locals to retaliate. Some of these have been proven to be antisemitic in nature, such as one group chat that plotted a “Jew hunt”.
A Maccabi supporter is thrown into a canal in the early hours and forced to shout “Free Palestine”. Onlookers from the quay are reported to have shouted “Kankerjood” (“Cancer Jew”).
City officials meet at 11am on 7th November. The objective of the meeting is to decide whether or not the game should go ahead, based on the “aggression shown by Maccabi supporters and the reaction of the taxi drivers”.
A decision is made to let the game go ahead, with the stadium being opened early in order to allow Maccabi fans early access and therefore reducing numbers of people on the streets.
Pro-Palestine protests take place near the Johan Cruyff Arena in the afternoon. There is an attempt by hooligans within the Ajax fanbase to disrupt this but police successfully intervene.
Maccabi fans also set up their own set up in large groups, primarily within the city centre. Fans parade Israel flags, banners in support of the IDF, and chant “Fuck the Arabs”.
Later in the afternoon, Maccabi fans make their way to the Johan Cruyff Arena. Fights break out en route. Chants from Maccabi fans include “Olé olé olé, let the IDF win and fuck the Arabs”, and a particularly sickening celebration of the IDF’s slaughter of children - “Why is there no school in Gaza? There are no children left there”.
Before kick-off Maccabi fans disrupt a minutes silence for those who died in the Spanish floods a few days before with whistles and anti-Palestinian chanting.
After the game finishes, Maccabi fans are set upon, initially by “boys on scooters”. Fans were then filmed being beaten up and chased with knives.
Later in the night, Maccabi fans arm themselves with makeshift weapons from a construction site (pipes, pieces of wood), beat up more people, and even kick in the door, past midnight, of a woman who had a Palestinian flag in her window.
Tensions remained heightened in the following days, with much of the trouble once again containing examples of antisemitism (people said to be of “Israeli appearance” being pulled out of taxis and ordered to display passports proving they weren’t from Israel).
The immediate response of the Amsterdam authorities to the events was to declare it as antisemitism. The events of the previous evening and the actions of the Maccabi fans are not, initially, taken into account.
Further responses include banning demonstrations for three days. Despite the ban, pro-Palestine protests take place in Dam Square, with protestors reportedly attacked by police. The ban was on demonstrations was ended abruptly, being described as “untenable”.
More broadly, there was a hoax bomb threat to a synagogue, online calls to attack mosques, and an event organised by anti-Zionist and antifascist groups to commemorate Kristallnacht was cancelled, with organiser stating that security for the event was not guaranteed when considering the failure of Amsterdam police to deal with unrest caused by Maccabi fans.
Media reporting of the unrest has since been proven to be distorted in favour of Maccabi fans. Sky News even edited out references to Maccabi fans tearing down Palestinian flags. One bit of footage of Maccabi fans attacking locals was misreported as locals attacking Maccabi fans, with said attackers deemed antisemites.
Dutch PM and aptly named Dick Schoof berated Amsterdammers involved in clashes with Maccabi fans, even going as far to say that the entire country had “failed” its Jewish community.
Unsurprisingly, far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders blamed the unrest on “multicultural scum”.
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema describes the unrest as being reminiscent of pogroms against Jews. This sentiment was echoed, unsurprisingly, by Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Days later, Dutch politicians and establishment figures appear to backtrack on antisemitism accusations. Mayor Halsema claims to regret the describing the unrest as a pogrom. A police report states that the unrest was a result of “antisemitism, hooliganism, and anger about the conflicts in Palestine and Israel, and other countries in the Middle East”.
Maccabi Tel Aviv’s next away game in the competition against Turkish side Besiktas was moved to a neutral venue, though this neutral venue turned out to be in Hungary. In this “neutral” venue the match took place with no fans present.
Furthermore, many precedents of travelling fans being “banned” from European fixtures exist. One precedent of particular relevance also involved Aston Villa. Though the context was different, with fans of Legia Warsaw being denied entry to Villa Park after clashing with police outside the ground, the fact that fans were “banned” is shows that this response to real or potential threats to public safety is not a measure used solely against fans of Israeli football clubs.
Back to the SAG, their recommendations are just that. They have no legal powers and cannot make decisions. The decision has been made by WMP based of their advice and their own risk assessments. Other factors that no doubt came up were recent troubles involving Israeli clubs and the Israel national team, as well as trouble at a basketball game between Valencia and Hapoel Tel Aviv, a staggering achievement considering nobody in Europe cares about Basketball.
As a group responsible for assessing any risks to public safety at large events, SAG have to take these risks seriously. That is an obvious observation. It is curious then to hear Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch, and Ed Davies, though not so much Nigel Farage, seek to overturn this decision on the basis of antisemitism and discrimination. When this decision is overturned, and it will be, these people best hope that no trouble does break out. Given the current mood towards Israel, and the history of Maccabi fans, there will need to be a very large police operation put in place.
For wider Maccabi Tel Aviv context, their fans have been labelled as the “second-most racist” in Israel by the New Israel Fund.
But anyway, having said all this, no Israeli club should be involved in international football tournaments, or any sporting competitions, in line with the precedent set by the exclusion of Russia from all international sports after the invasion of Ukraine.