Israeli fan ban could be the spark that ignites a political powderkeg

West Midlands Police’s stance is a shaming moment for the UK and exposes sorry state of public order in this country link Daily Telegraph 16 October 2025 9:59pm BST So now we have it spelt out in black and white: an admission by a British police force that it is effectively unable to protect visiting Jewish football fans on British soil. This is, however you slice it, a shaming moment. Only last weekend, within hours of the Gaza ceasefire coming into effect, huge amounts of police resources were diverted to protecting pro-Palestine marches in the heart of London, attended by tens of thousands. But as for ensuring the safety of a few hundred Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters on the streets of Birmingham? All too much bother.

It is a level of inconsistency that makes your head spin. On learning of the extraordinary move by West Midlands Police to advise the shutting out of Maccabi fans from next month’s Europa League match at Aston Villa, Baroness Fox lamented how she had “sat for hours in the House of Lords debating a new crime and policing bill that creates endless laws to ‘keep our streets safe’ – yet police won’t use the laws we have to keep certain people safe”. And all this on a day when the Prime Minister promised, in the aftermath of the Manchester synagogue atrocity, £10m in extra security for Jewish amenities. Not for the first time on this subject, there appeared a vast gulf between rhetoric and reality. Reacting to the escalating furore, the Prime Minister criticised the police, saying an outright ban targeting Maccabi was the “wrong decision”. The priority, you might think, should be to crack down on the virulent anti-Semitism that has rendered it dangerous for Israelis to attend matches in this country. Sadly, police have chosen a cruder response, simply banning Maccabi followers from coming at all. The explanation was that their action was based on “previous incidents”: none more serious than last year’s mayhem around Maccabi’s visit to Ajax, which brought 62 arrests and five people sent to hospital. While some Maccabi fans chanted anti-Arab slogans and tore Palestinian flags down from buildings, Dutch authorities also described how anti-Semitic rioters had “actively sought out Israeli supporters to attack”. Fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv stage a pro-Israel demonstration at the Dam Square, lighting up flares and chanting slogans ahead of the Europa League match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax in Amsterdam last November Fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv stage a demonstration in Amsterdam before their match with Ajax last November, when there were ‘outbursts of violence towards Israeli supporters’Credit: Anadolu via Getty Images/Mouneb Taim Where is the immediate provocation this time? Look no further than a video released last week by Birmingham-based cleric Asrar Rashid, handing down an “Islamic ruling” that “we will not show mercy to Maccabi Tel Aviv fans travelling for the Aston Villa match”. How is this not tantamount to incitement? If there are urgent public safety concerns around this fixture, then they have been triggered by the violent threats of Rashid and by a petition, co-signed by Jeremy Corbyn and Birmingham MP Ayoub Khan, claiming that the match could “not be tolerated as business as usual” because of the “ongoing genocide in Gaza”. Khan was cock-a-hoop as the police caved in to such agitating, arguing that the reaction was “welcome”. He even had the gall to play the peacemaker, declaring: “Now is the time to ease tensions, set aside political differences, and focus on the football once more.” Truly, it is quite the flex to call for calm when you have just advocated banning all opposition supporters on the pretext that you do not much care for their country of origin. No wonder Khan was deluged with outraged questions about how his Jewish constituents would feel. Would he adopt such a brazenly discriminatory posture if there were Muslim fans involved? Ayoub Khan and Jeremy Corbyn Ayoub Khan (right), the independent MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, welcomed the ban on visiting supporters after signing a petition last week with Jeremy Corbyn, saying that the match could not be tolerated as ‘business as usual’Credit: John Lawrence for The Telegraph If the city of Birmingham cannot guarantee safety for this one match, then you question its credentials to host future international events. Here you have an open concession by the police that they cannot control Villa’s clash with Maccabi, thus opening the door to potential lawbreakers. It is difficult to imagine how this does anything but give succour to men like Rashid, boasting about meting out merciless treatment to anybody in Maccabi colours. Starmer pledged that Jews are welcome and safe in Britain. That he stands shoulder to shoulder with the Jewish community and will use the full force of his government to prove it. You sense this is the spark that will ignite a political powderkeg. “Horrendous,” said Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader. “A national disgrace.” It is a struggle to characterise it as anything else: after all, a section of Britain’s second largest city has just been designated essentially as a no-go area for visiting Jews. A few days ago, Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, unleashed a maelstrom of protest when he called Handsworth, next door to Villa’s local borough of Aston, as “one of the worst-integrated areas I’ve ever been to”. The prevailing objection was that the place represented, contrary to Jenrick’s depiction, a triumph of diversity. That argument becomes far trickier to sustain if Birmingham is now so beholden to Islamist extremism that it cannot tolerate the fans of an Israeli side in its midst. The Campaign for Antisemitism has not diluted its message. “Another alarming sign,” it calls it, “of how British authorities are failing to ensure that Jews can participate safely and equally in public life. Instead of confronting the anti-Semitic hatred that has made it unsafe for Israeli fans to attend, the response is to exclude the victims. What does that say about the state of policing and public order in this country?” It says nothing good, that is for certain. When you seemingly have one rule for those persisting with vast pro-Palestine demonstrations and another for Israelis travelling to a football match, the result can only be a stain on Britain’s reputation.