Israelis should be welcome in Birmingham

Here's a reality check for some of you who definitely need it...

This would be funny if it wasn’t so serious. Absolute thugs.

Chief Constable, who’d be one? The classic damned if they do, damned if they don’t.

It Is hilarious timing. There’ll be a reason, concocted by those who desperately want WM Police’s decision to be deemed anti-semetic, why this ban is somehow different I’m sure.

A falsehood you say.

The Tel-Aviv derby has been cancelled TODAY by Israeli police because of the dangerous behaviour of both sets of supporters.
The police spokesperson said “Disorderly conduct, riots, object throwing, smoke grenades, fireworks, injured police officers, and damage to stadium infrastructure – this is not a football match, this is a serious public disturbance and violence.”

Come on though Birmingham, suck it up.

😄

Very happy to admit when I’ve been a bit of a tit 😁

Thank you.

Reported my post.

Absolutely fair enough, hold my hands up happily. Read a headline figure completely incorrectly. Not deliberate at all. Will request it deleted as I cocked up abysmally.

Haven't read the thread.
Love Israel and Israelis. But Israeli football fans aren't ok:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/police-cancel-tel-aviv-derby-after-fans-riot-at-stadium/

Thanks for this correction

Did I say it shouldn't?

@Puzzledandpissedoff I think if one of us had got to it sooner I'd agree but this correction is so much later that the danger is that people believe it and I see noone properly challenged it for ages. I only just saw @EllaDisenchanted picked up on it - which means people thought it could be true! Anyone who has paid any attention would know it was BS even if they didn't have figures to hand.

They are super easy to find and I have posted this link before

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-year-ending-march-2024/hate-crime-england-and-wales-year-ending-march-2024

The same should go for Islamic extremists.

I'd just looked up the numbers for a very similar summary, @SharonEllis, but came back to post it and see you beat me to it

I also agree in principle that the earlier post should probably go, but honestly feel it's better left as a prime example of the sort of misinformation seen too often on here

I asked upthread if UEFA had ever imposed a ban on Maccabi fans. Apparently not.

This needs deleting.

There were 3282 hate crimes against Jews in the year ending March 2024 which was 33% of all religious hate crime. The equivalent % for muslims was 38%.
BUT in 2021 there were 3.9 million muslims = 6.5% of the population of England and Wales.
There were 287, 360 Jews = 0.5%.

The government's official figure for religious hate crimes per head is
121 per 10,000 for Jews
10 per 10,000 for Muslims

So the rate of hate crimes agaimst Jewish people is much higher than against muslims.

As @Comedycook says that figure would be much, much higher if Jewish people were as visible as Muslims.

And lots of badly behaved groups of fans have been banned from matches, it’s certainly not unusual. Why do you think that shouldn’t happen to these thuggish fans?

137550 was the total number of all hate crimes in the UK in 2024, including the subset of religious hate crimes, not the number of hate crimes against against Muslims

I don't think you were supposed to check that, @EllaDisenchanted , but well done all the same for pointing it out - also for mentioning that all hate crimes are unacceptable

As we see again and again, there are some for whom absolutely everything which happens to jews must be their own fault, and if the facts don't support this then the facts will be misrepresented

It looks to me as though the argument that the ban on the Maccabi fans was only because of their supposed extreme and unusual violence, backed up by UEFA saying the fans shouldn’t travel, has fallen apart completely on this thread,

Which is as it should be. Because that argument is a falsehood. It’s rubbish. And very unpleasant.

But it’s not about some football thugs.

Imams, councillors and even the MP have talked about Israeli genocide. The Imam in particular was stirring with “we shall show them no mercy”.

Now, I’m sure Exeter have said this about Plymouth (“We hate the Argyll and we hate the Argyll!” ) but it’s not political or religious - it’s just a chance for a bit of a ruck and some light fisticuffs rather than visceral hatred of anyone in the next town.

They shouldn't get any support at all
Not sure what thats got to do with The Police in Birmingham not wanting certain football supporters from a club known to have issues with violent fans attending a match though

The statement from West Midlands Police read:

"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.
Based on our professional judgement, we believe this measure will help mitigate risks to public safety."

Are you implying that the violent clashes and hate crime offences were due to the Macabi fans?

The violence in the Ajax game in Amsterdam was described as anti semetic attacks by the Amsterdam Mayor, the Dutch Prime Minister and the Dutch King. But I guess you know better than they do that it was simple football hooliganism?