Sawt Falasteen - Anger mounts over Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban for Aston Villa match

Villa announced on Thursday that following advice from the police no away fans may attend the UEFA Europa League match with the Israeli club in Birmingham on November 6 due to "security concerns".

"Shameful decision! I call on the UK authorities to reverse this coward decision," the foreign minister of Israel Gideon Saar wrote in a post on X.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a keen football fan, also slammed the move, calling it "wrong" in a statement late Thursday.

"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," Starmer wrote on X.

Britain's Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, whose brief includes sport, was set Friday to meet interior ministry officials and other stakeholders to "see if there's a way through" the ban, a minister said.

"The Prime Minister has said we will do everything we possibly can to resolve this issue," Ian Murray told UK media.

Villa said it received the instruction from the Safety Advisory Group (SAG), the body responsible for issuing safety certificates for every match at the club's stadium, Villa Park.

"The SAG have formally written to the club and UEFA to advise no away fans will be permitted to attend Villa Park for this fixture," its statement said.

"West Midlands Police have advised the SAG that they have public safety concerns outside the stadium bowl and the ability to deal with any potential protests on the night."

Villa said they were in "continuous dialogue" with the Israeli club and the local authorities "with the safety of supporters attending the match and the safety of local residents at the forefront of any decision".

- 'Disgusting' -

Local police said on Thursday they had classified the fixture as "high risk" following a "thorough assessment".

"This decision is 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," a spokesperson for the West Midlands force said.

Last November's match between Dutch side Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv saw two days of violent clashes between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli fans.

Supporters of the Israeli team were assaulted in Amsterdam in hit-and-run attacks.

The attacks were the culmination of two days of skirmishes that also saw Maccabi fans chant anti-Arab songs, vandalise a taxi and pull down a Palestinian flag.

Emily Damari, a British-Israeli who was captured during Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and held captive for more than a year before being released in January, said the ban would stop her from going to watch Maccabi, the team she supports.

"Football is a way of bringing people together irrespective of their faith, colour or religion, and this disgusting decision does the exact opposite," she said in a statement.

Maccabi Tel Aviv chief executive Jack Angelides told BBC radio the team had travelled to other countries where he said the sentiment is "not so kind towards Israeli teams" but the police "were out in force" and there were no incidents.

T.Ibrahim--SF-PST