A ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending an Aston Villa match is “the wrong decision”, Sir Keir Starmer has said amid condemnation of the move.
Fans of the Israeli side were barred from the club’s Europa League visit to Aston Villa amid public safety fears, with police saying they had classified the match as high risk.
Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group – the body responsible for issuing safety certificates for every match at Villa Park – informed Villa that no away fans will be permitted to attend the 6 November fixture in Birmingham.
The move was condemned by Jewish political leaders, and was branded a “national disgrace” by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and a “shameful decision” by Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar.
In a post on X, The Prime Minister said: “This is the wrong decision. We 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.”
West Midlands Police said they had classified the Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv fixture as high risk based on “current intelligence and previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crime offences that occurred during the 2024 Uefa Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam”.
Violent clashes between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli fans erupted around the Uefa Europa League football match between Dutch club Ajax and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv last year.
Five men were given prison sentences and more than 60 people were detained in the riots, which prompted accusations of deliberate antisemitic attacks.
Badenoch said the latest development was “a national disgrace” and called on Starmer to “guarantee that Jewish fans can walk into any football stadium in this country”.
Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters are guarded by police after violence in Amsterdam in November 2024 (Photo:Ami Shooman/Israel Hayom Reuters)The Jewish Leadership Council criticised the decision not to permit Maccabi supporters to attend the Villa game, saying: “It is perverse that away fans should be banned from a football match because West Midlands Police can’t guarantee their safety.
“Aston Villa should face the consequences of this decision and the match should be played behind closed doors.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “A serious mistake by WM Police. You don’t tackle antisemitism by banning its victims. This decision must be reversed.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the move “takes racial discrimination to a whole new level”, while an MP in his party, Danny Kruger, said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood should consider sacking the chief constable responsible.
Criticism also came from Israel, with foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar saying: “I call on the UK authorities to reverse this coward decision.”
Baroness Luciana Berger, a former Labour MP who quit the party in 2019 amid its antisemitism scandal before rejoining in 2023, posted on X: “This is a shameful decision.
“If @WMPolice (West Midlands Police) & Birmingham council can’t guarantee safety for this 1 match then the city’s ability to host forthcoming major international events should be reviewed.”
But Ayoub Khan, the pro-Gaza Independent MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, welcomed the decision.
He said: “From the moment that the match was announced, it was clear that there were latent safety risks that even our capable security and police authorities would not be able to fully manage.
“With so much hostility and uncertainty around the match, it was only right to take drastic measures.”
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign had called for the match to be cancelled, saying on X: “Israeli football teams shouldn’t play in international tournaments whilst it commits genocide and apartheid.”
Earlier on Thursday Starmer announced a review of antisemitism in the NHS while on a visit to the Community Security Trust (CST), which provides protection for Jewish communities in the UK.
Government efforts to stamp out antisemitism have been in the spotlight in the wake of the terrorist attack at the Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester on 2 October that left two men dead.
Figures released by the Home Office last week suggest antisemitic hate crime remains near record levels.
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