Sawt Falasteen - UK govt aims to reverse ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans at Villa game

Birmingham-based Villa said on Thursday that the club had been informed by the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) -- responsible for issuing certificates for matches -- that no away fans would be permitted at the Europa League game on November 6.

"The government is working with policing and other partners to do everything in our power to ensure this game can safely go ahead, with all fans present," a government spokesperson said.

"We are exploring what additional resources and support are required so all fans can attend."

A UK police commissioner asked local officials to review the decision as criticism of the ban mounted, including from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European governing body UEFA.

Starmer, a keen football fan, called the move "wrong".

"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.

UEFA, which runs the Europa League, called on the clubs and authorities to "agree on the implementation of appropriate measures necessary to allow" Maccabi fans to attend.

Birmingham has been the scene of huge pro-Palestinian rallies since the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas began.

"Shameful decision! I call on the UK authorities to reverse this coward decision," Israel's foreign minister, Gideon Saar, posted on X.

A new meeting of the SAG committee is now expected early new week, and West Midlands police are also due to set out what additional resources might be needed.

Prince William, heir to the UK throne, is a keen Villa fan and often attends matches.

A number of left-wing independent and Green politicians in Britain have backed the ban, with some calling for the wider exclusion of Israeli teams from international competitions due to the government's actions in Gaza.

- Public safety concerns -

Villa said on Thursday that West Midlands police had advised the SAG that they had "public safety concerns outside the stadium bowl".

Police said that they had classified the fixture as "high risk".

"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 sparked 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 after skirmishes in which Maccabi fans chanted anti-Arab songs, vandalised a taxi and pulled down a Palestinian flag.

Emily Damari, a British-Israeli captured during Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and held for more than a year, said the ban would prevent 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 fan Tamir Nahson, 37, a wine importer in Israel, told AFP it was a "missed opportunity".

Britain "has become the UK for anti-Semitism. It's very painful, it's very unpleasant for us and I guess it's also disappointing for Aston Villa fans."

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

The war has killed at least 67,967 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the territory run by the armed Palestinian group, Hamas. The United Nations considers the figures to be credible.

Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Earlier this month, two Jewish men died in an attack on a synagogue in Manchester, England, that police linked to Islamist extremism.

S.Abdullah--SF-PST