Israelis should be welcome in Birmingham

[mids2019]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15206171/Parts-Birmingham-no-area-Jews-says-Ed-Miliband-ministers-scramble-allow-Israeli-fans-attend-Aston-Villa-football-match.html

The government need to act on this. West Midlands police have more than enough man power to police a football match with at most 1000 away fans. I watched West Midlands politics today and there was a politician brazenly saying part of the reason for effectively banning the Tel Aviv fans was they there was 'a moral point about Gaza'. We cannot have local councillors, community leaders and MPs agitating for the anti Semitic ban of fans of one of Israel's premier football teams.

We have to face reality want know that a lot of local residents are anti Israel and have taken this opportunity for VIlla Park to become a no go area for Jews.

Let's hope the decision is overturned and quickly.

And why were the pro Palestine lot there? To cause shit too? Or are you so biased that you think only one side should protest?

I think they’re all fine to protest. I’ve said multiple times that football is inherently political.

But what I don’t do is sit back and pretend that most of the groups there were completely peaceful

Clearly not. You think one side are there to cause shit and the others aren't. For all your pontificating on this thread you're not as impartial as you think you are.

If you see an EDL gathering do you think they’re racists? I do.

If I see a ‘pro’-Palestinian march and hear ‘river to the sea’ and ‘Yemen, Yemen…’ and ‘death, death to the IDF’ I also draw conclusions about people willing to do that and to go along to support it.

It’s nothing to do with psychic abilities. Or hyperbole.

I think they were all there to cause shit. But they have a right to protest.

AppleStrudel16
so at least one of the arrests was a pro-Israeli supporter. At least six weren’t related to the protest (racial abuse during a road rage incident, the s.60 offence, the dispersal order, racial abuse of a police officer, fireworks and PWITS)

Why have you discounted the face covering, the dispersal order offence and the fireworks as not related to the protest?

Also on Thursday night, pro-Palestinian activists set off flares in a concert auditorium in Paris;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3w9lgx1gnxo

Obviously not the end of this matter just yet;

Tuesday, 4 November 2025

Letter to the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner relating to the upcoming Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv Europa League fixture...

Dear Commissioner and Chief Constable

I am writing on behalf of the Home Affairs Select Committee to request more information regarding the decision-making around the forthcoming UEFA Europa League fixture between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Though Maccabi Tel Aviv have now declined tickets for the fixture, there is a public interest case for greater clarity about the process that led to the initial decision not to allow away fans, which we would be grateful for your assistance in providing.

It has been set out how the initial decision by Birmingham City Council not to allow Maccabi Tel Aviv fans was based on a risk assessment provided by West Midlands Police to the safety advisory group. We would therefore be grateful if you could set out:

1. What assessment West Midlands Police made of disorder in Amsterdam in November 2024, following a match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv?

2. What options for policing the fixture did West Midlands Police consider as part of its risk assessment? For example, was a ‘bubble’ considered for away fans?

3. Did West Midlands Police assess that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were likely to be the victims of antisemitism? If so, was this seen as the most significant risk?

4. Did West Midlands Police assess that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were likely to present a danger to the local population?

5. To what extent did resource constraints mean that West Midlands Police felt they were unable to police the fixture effectively? How often and in what circumstances would a request to other forces or the Government for mutual aid or additional resources be considered?

In addition, and in line with the Home Affairs Select Committee’s powers under the Standing Orders of the House of Commons, we would like to request a copy of the full risk assessment conducted by West Midlands Police in relation to this fixture.

As well as questions around the initial decision-making for the fixture, we would be grateful for your answers to some questions about the wider political environment and the impact on West Midlands Police:

1. Did campaigning about the fixture, including a petition to cancel the fixture promoted by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, affect your assessment of the risk posed by the fixture? In particular, was your assessment that Maccabi TelAviv fans were put at greater risk by public campaigns against their attendance?

2. Was any evidence submitted to you by campaigning organisations material to your risk assessment for the fixture?

3. Following the offer of Government support to resource the fixture, were you able to consider additional options to police the fixture? What options were considered at this point?

Finally, given the questions this incident has raised, will you be conducting any review of West Midlands Police’s footballing operation, to ensure that potential future high-risk fixtures can be policed safely?

We are grateful in advance for your assistance in this important matter and would appreciate a response by Wednesday 19 November. Our intention would be to publish the material you provide in response.

Yours sincerely ...

Chair of the Home Affairs Committee

https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/83/home-affairs-committee/publications/3/correspondence/

Oh don't we know they have a right to protest and some make very full use of that right. Excessive to my mind but there you go. However you've agreed that the pro Palestine protesters are bother causers and shit stirrers. That'll do for me.

Oh I know they have a right to protest and some make very full use of that. Excessive to my mind but there you go. At least you admit that the pro Palestine protesters are shit stirrers. That'll do for me.

The response to that will be interesting.

The fact that there were masked anti Israel protestors causing trouble despite them getting what they wanted, no Maccabee supporters, kind of belied the idea this was about Maccabee supporters being a risk of causing trouble themselves anyway.

Might all not be an issue soon if UEFA votes to exclude Israeli teams

https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/irish-governing-body-approves-call-uefa-ban-israel-source-says-2025-11-08/

On what basis?

A genocide that never happened?

A famine that never happened?

It’s in the article @CrispyKnees .the ban is being sought on the following grounds

”its failure to implement and enforce an effective anti-racism policy and the playing by Israeli clubs in occupied Palestinian territories without the consent of the Palestinian Football Association.”

the killing of 69, 000 Palestinians predominantly civilians, the use of starvation as a weapon of war, the continued restriction of aid entry into Gaza, the daily breaches of Palestinian human rights these probably all also influenced the call for a ban, a ban that truly should have been in place years ago due to activities in the Occupied Territories

What a load of bollocks, Uefa are an absolute joke. They obviously studied at the same school as the BBC for fact and truth telling.

I suppose everyone should read Israel Hayom and only Israel Hayom as everyone else is lying.

Never heard of it.

That surprises me. It's often referred to as Bibiton as it is effectively his mouthpiece. Makes the Daily Mail look like a left wing newspaper. It's owner was an interesting character. Made his money in casinos and you know how shady that business is. Personal friend of Netanyahu who actually met his body at the airport after he died.

Well that’s just a tad one sided.

Are Ukraine banned?

Most of them civilians my backside.

This is just more blatant antisemitism.

Russia has been banned from many things,
it is not antisemitic to oppose war crimes
it is not antisemetic to oppose the slaughter of civilians and 20,000 children

You can keep repeating that over and over again but everyone can see it for the over simplistic, one sided statement that it is and you know Russia and Israel are not equivalents in these respective wars. One was an illegal invasion of a sovreign nation, the other was a response to an illegal invasion of a sovreign nation, even if the prosecution of that war is considered to have gone beyond that.

One was a disproportionate collective punishment of a trapped civilian population in response to an awful terrorist attack, Palestinians receive neither arms or support from the international community or in anyway match the IDF in military capabilities. So these events are not comparable except that Russia is a pariah state in Europe as Israel is well on it’s way to becoming

Well they shouldn't have started a war then! Hamas gets arms directly from Iran and indirectly from Russia and China. Its also very wealthy,not least through taxing Gazans and large criminal networks and the fact that it gets huge amounts of aid. Poor little Hamas doesn't cut it.

They? The dead children?

I can't believe you typed out that Palestinians don't get support from the international community. You can't actually believe that? Or expect anyone else to?
Quick wiki lesson:
From 2014 to 2020, U.N. agencies spent nearly $4.5 billion in Gaza, including $600 million in 2020 alone.[8] According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, aid to Palestinians totaled over $40 billion between 1994 and 2020.[9][10] plus millions from Qatar.

Yes, that's right. Dead children started a war.