Starmer says ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending Aston Villa game is ‘wrong decision’
Sir Keir Starmer has condemned Israel’s decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from their match against Aston Villa as the “wrong decision”.
The Prime Minister joined calls for Birmingham City Council’s Safety Advisory Group and West Midlands Police to reverse the decision and allow Maccabi fans to attend the match.
The move to ban Maccabi away fans from attending the Europa League match at Villa Park on Thursday, November 6, was made amid public safety concerns.
Last year, during the Europa League match between Dutch club Ajax and Maccabi in Amsterdam, violent clashes took place between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli fans.
Five people were sentenced to prison and more than 60 people were detained in the riots; this led to accusations of deliberate antisemitic attacks.
However, Sir Keir harshly criticized the decision in a post on X (formerly Twitter), describing it as the “wrong decision”.
He said: “We will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets.
“The role of the police is to ensure that all football fans can enjoy the game without fear of violence or intimidation.”
Birmingham Safety Advisory Group, which is responsible for issuing safety certificates for every match at Villa Park, has informed Villa that no away fans will be allowed to attend next month’s match.
The move was condemned by Jewish political leaders. UEFA, which manages the Europa League, also called on England officials to ensure that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans can attend the match in Birmingham.
The statement said: “UEFA wants fans to be able to travel and support their teams in a safe, secure and welcoming environment and encourages both teams and competent authorities to agree on the implementation of appropriate measures necessary to allow this to happen.
Senior government officials met on Friday to find a “passageway” to allow Maccabi fans to attend the match, a minister said. Culture ministry minister Ian Murray said the decision was “completely and utterly unacceptable” and said culture minister Lisa Nandy would be “meeting with the Home Office and other stakeholders today to see if there is a way around this”.
Andrew Fox, honorary chairman of Aston Villa Jewish Villans supporters’ club, said the decision was “more of a political message than a safety message”.
The retired British Army major told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There is no evidence that Maccabi fans are particularly violent. “They have no history of having a violent fan base in previous European matches.
“So it’s actually more of a political message than a security message.”
He said there were many “established ways” of keeping rival fans apart and that bans were generally reserved for situations where visiting fans were “guaranteed violence”.
The decision was also described as a “national disgrace” by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and a “shameful decision” by Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar.
“Starmer has promised that Jews are welcome and safe in Britain, that he will stand shoulder to shoulder with the Jewish community and will use the full force of his government to prove this,” Ms Badenoch wrote of X.
“Will he back up those words with action and guarantee that Jewish fans can enter any football stadium in this country?
“Otherwise it sends a terrible and shameful message: there are some places in Britain that Jews cannot go.”
The Jewish Leadership Council criticized the decision to not allow Maccabi fans to attend the Villa match, saying: “It is perverse to ban away fans from a football match because West Midlands Police cannot guarantee their safety.
“Aston Villa must face the consequences of this decision and the match must be played behind closed doors.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “A serious mistake by WM Police. You cannot fight antisemitism by banning its victims. This decision must be reversed.”
Reform England leader Nigel Farage said the move “takes racial discrimination to a whole new level”, while Danny Kruger, an MP from his party, said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood should consider sacking the police chief responsible.
Former Labor MP Baroness Luciana Berger, who left the party in 2019 because of the antisemitism scandal and rejoined in 2023, said: “This is a shameful decision.
“If West Midlands Police and Birmingham council cannot guarantee the safety of this 1 match then the city’s ability to host future major international events should be reviewed.”
West Midlands Police said they had classed the Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv match as high risk based on “available intelligence and previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crime offenses during a 2024 UEFA Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam”.
Ayoub Khan, the pro-Gaza Independent MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, welcomed the decision.
He said: “From the moment the match was announced, it was clear that there were hidden security risks that even our capable security and police authorities could not fully manage.
“With so much hostility and uncertainty surrounding the match, it was right to take drastic measures.”
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign had called for the match to be cancelled, telling X: “Israeli football teams should not be playing in international tournaments while practicing genocide and apartheid.”
