Government’s response to Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban was ‘clumsy’, say MPs | West Midlands
The government’s response to West Midlands police’s ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans was “clumsy”, “late” and “only inflamed tensions”, a group of MPs has found.
A report published by the home affairs select committee on Sunday analyzed the initial decision to ban fans from November’s Europa League match against Aston Villa and the recommendations that led to it.
The report concluded that West Midlands police (WMP) relied on “inaccurate information” and “did not do even basic due diligence” on the intelligence.
The committee also criticized the Home Office, which it said had “failed to recognize the significance of the decision and communicate it properly” despite being informed more than a week before the ban was likely to be announced.
“The government intervened after the decision to suspend fans was made, increasing the tension around the match, but was ineffective in ensuring Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attended the match, which reflects negatively on the culture of the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” the report said.
The ban imposed on supporters of the Israeli club by the security advisory group (SAG) led by the council caused widespread anger at the time. Keir Starmer said it was “wrong” and suggested it amounted to antisemitism.
Committee chair Dame Karen Bradley said the profile of this fixture “should have been clear” to the government before the ban was announced.
“The government’s intervention was incompetent and came too late, and we reject the government’s argument that it could only intervene after the decision had been made,” the Conservative MP said. “Their intervention, when necessary, did nothing but inflame tensions.”
The committee also heavily criticized WMP for being “overly dependent on false and unverified information about Maccabi Tel Aviv fans”. It was stated that the use of artificial intelligence, especially in the agency’s intelligence collection, strengthened “false narratives”.
Officers were forced to apologize to the committee in January after it was revealed that inaccurate information contained in the committee’s intelligence regarding a fictional match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham United had been intercepted using Microsoft Copilot. The chief constable has previously told MPs that the force does not use artificial intelligence.
The investigation found that the police’s actions had caused “serious damage to public trust, particularly among the local Jewish community, but also”.
An interim report by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Andy Cooke was published in January and found the police were subject to “confirmation bias” in their assessments.
The force’s chief constable, Craig Guildford, was forced to resign and retire with immediate effect following the publication of the report and the withdrawal of confidence from the home secretary. Two investigations into potential misconduct by the police watchdog into the force and Guildford are currently ongoing.
“There seems to be a ‘this will work’ attitude,” Bradley said. “Banning Maccabi Tel Aviv fans would make policing the match much easier. To justify this step, information indicating that Maccabi fans were a high risk was relied upon without proper review.
“Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were incorrectly characterized as unusually violent, while the threat posed to local communities was downplayed and little attention was paid to the impact on Birmingham’s Jewish community.”
The committee found no evidence that antisemitism was a motivating factor, but declared that failure to consult the community “damaged relationships”. He also stated that there was no evidence of a “conspiracy” but that he “cannot rule out the suggestion that political pressure played a role in the decision”.
In particular, it cites the involvement of council members with a “stated political purpose” who have “a disproportionate opportunity to influence the security advisory group’s decision-making on a deeply divisive political issue.”
The committee made several recommendations to the government and police force to rebuild trust with the Jewish community, including banning elected politicians from sitting in SAGs.
A WMP spokesman said: “We are fully committed to learning from these events and have already made efforts through a series of meetings with key local representatives to repair any damage caused by the loss of public trust in us.”
Birmingham city council leader Councilor John Cotton welcomed the report and said: “It is crucial that we all work together to rebuild trust, particularly within Jewish communities, and I have already met with the interim chief constable to make this clear. I am encouraged by the first steps he has taken to rebuild trust and confidence.”
The Ministry of Internal Affairs was contacted for comment.
