Outrageous antisemitism allegations over Maccabi fan ban
JVL Introduction
The response to the measured decision by the Birmingham City Council to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending the game against Aston Villa on 6th November on safety grounds has been shamefully mispresented.
Keir Starmer’s immediate, absurd response was to say: “We will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets” about a decision which had nothing to do with antisemitism and everything to do with guaranteeing the safety of the ordinary citizens in Birmingham.
This misrepresentation was dominant in BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions on 16 October when all four panel members united to condemn the decision – in contrast to Any Answers the following day (available until 16/11/25 ) whose contributors overwhelmingly dissented from the panel’s view.
Condemnation was also the leitmotif of the Today programme which was scandalously one-sided in its presentation.
We repost letters of complaint from Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi and Jenny Manson, media officer and co-chair of JVL respectively, to the BBC’s Any Questions and Today programmes.
The decision to ban Maccabi fans no doubt drew on their thuggish, neo-fascist behaviour in Amsterdam last November when they literally ran amok in the streets.
Richard Sanders produced an excellent account of these riots at the time for Double Down News. He described how they were reported on mainstream media as “a textbook study in misinformation”. We link to it below.
The real issue we ought to be discussing is what on earth Israel is doing in world football in the first place since it is in egregious violation of the terms Fifa has set for participation in such events. But that’s the subject for another post.
RK
Middle East Eye report on the ban
Banning Maccabi fans
Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi , JVL Media Officer, 17 Oct 2025
Dear Today editors,
Justin Webbe’s interviews with Maccabi’s CEO and the police spokesman following were among the most dishonest, ignorant, misleading pieces of journalism I have ever had the misfortune to witness.
The portrayal of Maccabi fans as innocent Jewish victims of antisemitic violence who need protection from the residents of Birmingham, and the suggestion that police have succumbed to sinister pressure from a Muslim MP and others in his community, are shocking reversals of the reality.
Maccabi fans are known in Israel and beyond for their violent anti-Arab racism. This was clearly on display in Amsterdam. Did your researchers not look at the evidence? I offer a couple of easily accessible snippets below.
There is every reason to ban fans of clubs with that kind of reputation, to protect residents in the area where the match is to take place. Your entire report was based on the assumption that it was the Maccabi fans who needed protecting. Shockingly irresponsible.
“Community impact” is often invoked by lobbyists such as UK Lawyers for Israel attempting – often successfully – to shut down pro-Palestinian events, not just political meetings but also musical, theatrical and other cultural events. Even embroidery exhibitions. Justin Webbe’s faux outrage at the suggestion that members of a community could influence who is allowed to participate in a major sporting event in their area is either disingenuous or at worst a deliberate attempt to insinuate evil motives on the part of Muslims in Birmingham. His sole reference to legitimate concerns expressed by a local MP was undercut by gratuitous allegations of antisemitism.
There is a longstanding, widely supported global campaign to ban Israeli teams from competing internationally, analogous to the boycott campaign against apartheid south Africa.
This would have been the appropriate context for your report on the banning of Maccabi fans. Instead you – aided by our blundering Prime Minister – have turned it into yet another opportunity to demonise Muslims and portray racist Israelis as innocent victims of anti-Jewish hatred.
I urge you to correct this dangerously divisive narrative. As a longstanding supporter of the Red Card Israeli Racism campaign, I would be happy to help.
Letter to the Today Programme
Jenny Manson, Co-chair JVL, 17th October 2025
Dear Today,
Naomi Wimborne Idrissi, media officer of Jewish Voice for Liberation (JVL, previously Jewish Voice for Labour), wrote to you after last Friday’s interviews by Justin Webb. She noted Mr Webb’s complete failure to present a balanced account of the decision taken by the Safety Advisory Group to ban the attendance of the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans at the Aston Villa match. I phoned Today that day as well and was told that the editors were considering our very strong concerns.
Today on Saturday 18 October got it terribly wrong again. I called at 8.15, was told to phone again to speak to the editor at 8.30 – or better at 9.05. When I called at 9.05 there was no reply until a passer by picked up the phone and told me that the one producer and journalist there during the programme had left already! This time we were invited to share Nick Robinson’s views. First this was of Ayoub Kahn, an independent Muslim MP, who has expressed a commonly held view that Israel’s war crimes should affect how the UK treats its Israeli football teams, as happens with Russia. He is an “ally of Jeremy Corbyn”, we are told. The interviews with Eric Stuart and Richard Parker both were clearly aimed at undermining and challenging the Safety Advisory Group and suggesting that they had been unduly influenced by ‘anti Israeli sentiment’. It seems that Mr Robinson knows what evidence was assessed by the police security investigation and can dismiss it. Community Impact assessment is very important it seems EXCEPT when Israel is in the frame. Muslims being afraid…? Of no consequence.
There is significant evidence of the Maccabi fans behaving with racist violence including, as Naomi [Wayne phoning in to Any Answers – Ed] pointed out, from the New Israel Fund. On 17 October, a spokesperson talked of the Maccabi fans racially abusing ‘Arabs’ within Israel.
However much politicians want to outdo each other characterising opposition to the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans coming to Birmingham as antisemitic, this is dangerous nonsense. The facts make it clear that the decision was taken on real safety concern by safety experts. Of course there is also a reaction to distress caused by daily revelations of Israeli conduct of the war in Gaza and on the West Bank. This weekend there is corroboration of widespread torture of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and Rabbi Janner Klausner has reported today of witnessing aggressive violence by settlers against Palestinian farmers. This distress is felt by many Jews of course; what is antisemitic is to identify Jews with Israel. That’s why conflating criticism of Israeli with hostility to Jews is so dangerous. This is what the Maccabi bandwagon is doing and I am afraid so far Today has climbed on that bandwagon.
The ‘public’, from the experience of Yesterday’s Any Answers anyway, gets it. Jewish and non Jewish callers almost unanimously supported the ban and distinguished it from antisemitism. Today is the BBC News ‘flagship’ and is therefore very important that you get this story right tomorrow. We are available to come on the Programme.
Support for your Maccabi fan ban
Letter to Members of Birmingham City Council and Safety Advisory Group from Naomi Wimborne-idrissi, 17 October 2025
I have no doubt that you have made an appropriate decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from attending the upcoming Europa League match at Aston Villa.
I am Jewish and I have been horrified for a long time at the behaviour of Maccabi fans, known in Israel and beyond for their violent anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism. This was clearly on display in Amsterdam where they were filmed chanting “IDF will Fu*k the arabs, Death to Arabs, there are no schools in Gaza. There are no children left.”
They tore down Palestinian flags from homes and assaulted Amsterdam residents wearing keffiyehs or of Arab appearance. Their presence would clearly pose a tangible threat to local safety and community cohesion in Birmingham.
The accusations of antisemitism you are facing are utterly ludicrous. As a Jewish person, the thing that makes me afraid is politicians and journalists suggesting that Jews and Israelis are one and the same, especially while Israel is committing a genocide against tens of thousands Palestinian men, women, children and infants. Many Jews are among the millions worldwide who support Palestine because they are motivated by humane instincts, not hostility to Jews.
Please be assured you will be widely supported for resisting misguided attempts to make you back down on your principled standing to defend racial equality, public safety, and community harmony in Birmingham.
Mark Perryman has posted this on Facebook:
At ‘best’ this from Sir Keir is ill-informed, at worst it is naked and dangerous opportunism.
Ill-informed. As a former Director of Public Prosecutions I would have thought our Prime Minister might know banning away fans because of the risk of public disorder isn’t in the least unusual.
Dangerous opportunism. As an Arsenal fan Sir Keir is more familiar with the North London Derby but as a football fan he is presumably aware of the Celtic v Rangers Derby. When Celtic and Rangers fans are banned from travelling to the away fixture is it because they’re Catholic or Protestant? No, of course not, again its because of the risk of public disorder. Likewise Maccabi Tel Aviv fans haven’t been banned because they are Jewish, its because of the risk of public disorder.
And what might that risk be? Because many , football fans or not, cannot countenance the fact that while Russia, quite rightly, was, instantly banned from all UEFA competitions following its invasion of Ukraine, Israel committing a genocide on Gaza has not. Protests outside Villa Park have been taking place against the game, entirely peaceful. There would have been protests on the night of the game, against Israel’s genocide, not against Jews. Again a former DPP should know the difference.
And again as a football fan Sir Keir might be expected to know at least something about Maccabi Tel Aviv’s fans. They are notorious in Israel for their racism towards arab players and clubs, in the Israeli League. This would be akin to Arsenal fans taunting Spurs as a so-called ‘Jewish’ club not because of a long-standing North London football rivalry. An analogy Sir Keir would surely understand, and actions he’d condemn.
And Maccabi fans export all of this, mixing their racism and hooliganism, on Champions League away trips. Most recently in Amsterdam for their Europa League game against Ajax, widely reported but Sir Keir seems to have missed all of this, funny that, I thought he was a football fan?
No fan likes to see away supporters banned. The rivalry inside the stadium is part of what makes being there so special. But sometimes bans are imposed for public safety reasons. That’s the reason for this ban, not antisemitism. Sir Keir should take down his tweet and apologise, I won’t be holding my breath.
https://www.facebook.com/mark.perryman.581/posts/pfbid0DEKBNciFBtCvL9bxSypDRqnZJNohoeaiqnUkb4adtfipv8FvfDSKJLDHpfUurQETl
November 2024 Amsterdam riots
There is a very good account of what happened in Amsterdam on Wikipedia here.
Leyla Hamed puts it very well: “When an artist says “Death to the IDF” — ‘appalling hate speech.’ When Maccabi thugs chant “Death to Arabs” — ‘we will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets.’ Starmer’s moral compass is so broken it points to Tel Aviv.” See https://x.com/leylahamed/status/1979240521538195578
Israel must be banned from all events indefinitely. It is not antisemitic to say so Israel is a disgrace to all humanity thousands of Jews agree re this
We seem to have become so familiart with this well-used template of claiming anything which is a criticism of “Israel” as “Jew hatred” ot “Anti-Semitic”. You can see the twisted headlines now – where “pro-Palestinian” protesters “deliberately caused trouble” and stirred up “hatred” against “Jewish fans”. It’s a nonsense, as we all know. On social media and on mainstream national “Israeli” television and other media, IOF “soldiers” are seen holding up Maccabi Tel Aviv flags to the background of the rubble and destruction in Gazza. The Hind Rajab Foundation, on September 27th 2025, published an article “How Israeli Football Culture Became a Weapon of Genocide” [https://www.hindrajabfoundation.org/posts/how-israeli-football-culture-became-a-weapon-of-genocide] which Starmer is highly unlikely to read. The British establishment and its Prime-Minister appear to have become completely “Occupied” by “Israel”. We need to keep fascist genocidal child killers out of our stadiums and off our streets, not give them police protection.
Starmer is biased, ignorant, cannot think straight and has bad judgement.
JVL’s collected information, presented here, is what Starmer, the mass media and the dire establishment politicians and pundits should have followed.
It seems the Government the PM and the rest of the usual suspects From those other Political Parties who are all part of the Establishment.
Are now supporters of Violant Football Hooligans.
So I take it the PM will make Clear that he and those other party leaders will now be supporting and welcoming all Violant Football Hooligans from all other countries football clubs Hooligan Supporters..
And personally welcome them into the country when they play anyone one of our countries football clubs .
And when people get hurt and property is damaged by those Hooligans The same party leaders. Along with the PM who want the Ban by the Police and Special intelligence organisations lifte who tip the police off In order for the Police to be able to inform the Football Clubs in this country to ban those Hooligans from their Grounds.to prevent anyone being hurt .
I take it then that any injury claims from home supporters or the public. Aong with any damage to property and business that may happen
And this will be announced in a statement by the PM That any compensation that has to be paid out to the victims Will be paid from the PMs personal Pocket along with from the personal pockets of the other Leaders of thos Political Parties who voted to allow the hooligans in
will also be paid from their personal pockets out of the PMs and all those other leaders own pockets.
And not from the Public Purse
I was never aware the PM and most of other Political leaders Supported Violant Football Hooligans.
Who knows maybe those Football Hooligans Will be given the Freedom of the city of of the clubs they may play against .
Nothing would surprise me with the present Idiot PM and his Government of Idiots (comment cut at the 300 word limit)
We saw what happened, shouting racists chants.
Right on cue, as if to vindicate W Midlands Police’s decision to ban these hooligans, the Maccabi v Hapoel Tel Aviv derby game today ended in a riot.
Here’s a peach from some wag on X:
“Tonight, Israeli police cancel a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv as it goes violent, with, at time of posting, four Israeli police attacked and numerous Israeli fans injured
Chaos outside the stadium as horses are used to break up the violence, and chaos inside the stadium too as fireworks and smoke bombs thrown onto the pitch.
Who do you think will accuse the Israeli police of being antisemitic first? Prime Minister Keir Starmer or Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood”.
Classic!
Well said Richard.
Very apt comments and complaints. I regularly switch from Radio 4’s Today programme because of the bias by its contributors; and it is not just Palestinians who suffer but the organised British working class.
And the BBC World service is only a little better. I am still waiting, after four months, for the BBC to address my complaint about the programme’s bias in one interview.
Thank you Naomi and Jenny for representing these viewpoints so articulately to these organisations – these days I find it hard to go further than shaking my head at such bad faith conflation.
I to heard BBC today programme with Justin Webb, to say I was flabbergasted is an under statement. On what planet does Mr Webb live!!!! other than that he himself has a certain view of something he has not investigated, which is shameful, I would usually write to the BBC to complain but you know what they are so blinkered it just leaves me worse, but thanks to Naomi they have been told that it was completely disgusting to listen to.
Anti-Zionists have been pointing out the antisemitic implications of conflating Israel and the Jewish people for a long time, well before the IHRA definition so beloved of Zionists identified it as a problem. And for as long as I can remember Zionists have ignored the problem and kept on doing it. The belief that Israel represents the Jewish people as a whole, and that any attack on Israel must for this reason be antisemitic, is deeply entrenched in the traditional media and in the three right-wing parties, in which grouping I would reluctantly have to include Labour under Starmer’s leadership. All of these bodies are complicit in ignoring the dangers of this conflation. They don’t just deny the danger, they won’t even admit that any such danger exists. This constitutes a particularly egregious example of what Orwell referred to as ‘doublethink’, a state of mind that is obligatory for the citizen of an authoritarian state.
The Zionist State of Israel has worked hard to win itself the title of “Pariah State”.
The Maccabi supporters exemplify all that is vile about the Zionist project.
We are shamed by our political leaders and our national broadcaster who are so-transparently complicit in the spreading of Israeli propaganda.
So much attention is being paid to this ridiculous story instead of the ongoing atrocities being enacted in Gaza. The world has been turned upside down, language repurposed and international law is in tatters. I feel that we are in a pressure cooker that is about to explode.
I would like to remind Prime Minister that he was elected to represent the British public and not Israel.
Still cannot believe he put Israeli Football hooligans ahead of Birmingham’s safety and security.
The time has long gone to remove the insane IHRA, which should never have been adopted, for the Jerusalem Decloration. Bring sanity back and call Zionism what it is ..a political movement….most Zionists are evangelical christians and live in the US anyway. It is shocking that Zonist Israel is destroying the Jewish faith.