Police banned Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans over fears they would ‘come to harm from UK extremists’
Why police took controversial decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans
- West Midlands Police faced accusations of "appeasement" after admitting they banned Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a match against Aston Villa in Birmingham due to fears of attacks from sections of the community.
- Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara insisted the decision was "based on safety" and denied a "conspiracy", citing intelligence that people would "actively seek out Maccabi fans and seek violence towards them".
- New documents revealed concerns that community groups in Birmingham might arm themselves, and the police's risk assessment was altered to downgrade the risk to Maccabi fans and upgrade the risk to the local community.
- Senior officers admitted the decision was partly based on "fake information" from a Google search related to a 2023 West Ham match and that they had not kept notes of crucial conversations with Dutch police.
- The ban sparked political uproar, with Sir Keir Starmer condemning it as "the wrong decision", and the Home Secretary has since ordered a policing watchdog to review risk assessments by forces in England and Wales.