By Elham Asaad Buaras
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, face grave accusations of misleading the public, undermining operational policing, and enabling the Islamophobic targeting of Muslim MPs, after they publicly championed notorious fans of Israeli football club in defiance of a police safety ban.
The crisis began on October 16 when West Midlands Police (WMP), acting on an urgent safety recommendation from the Safety Advisory Group, announced they would bar Maccabi Tel Aviv’s away supporters from attending Aston Villa’s November 6 Europa League fixture. The decision was based on “current intelligence and previous incidents,” specifically documenting the club’s supporters’ violent rampage in Amsterdam on November 26, 2024.
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS – NOVEMBER 7: Maccabi Tel Aviv fans held a pro-Israel demonstration at Dam Square, lighting flares and chanting anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian slogans ahead of their UEFA Europa League match against Ajax. Hours later, clashes broke out with pro-Palestinian citizens, during which Palestinian flags displayed in the area were removed. Several parts of Amsterdam were designated as security risk zones ahead of the match. (Credit: Mouneb Taim/AA)
That intelligence revealed a night of extreme violence where Maccabi supporters attacked a local taxi driver, attacking anyone looking like Arab or Muslim or wearing a Palestinian symbol, vandalised public property, burned Palestinian flags, and chanted genocidal slogans including “Death to the Arabs,” there are no schools in Gaza because there are no children in Gaza”. Dutch officials described the scenes as “a toxic combination of hooliganism and hate speech,” while photojournalist Annet De Graaf, who captured the footage, clarified that it showed Maccabi supporters “initiating violence against a Dutchman” and accused international media of twisting “the context.”
Despite this documented history, Starmer directly intervened on October 17, condemning the police ban as “the wrong decision, and accused them of antisemitism. “This is the wrong decision. We will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets,” Starmer posted on X on October 16.
Israeli football team fans Maccabi Tel Aviv brutally beat a Palestinian man in Athens, Greece, ahead of their game against Olympiakos.
— Leyla Hamed (@leylahamed) March 7, 2024
Israeli violence apparently also goes unpunished in other countries. How is Israel still competing in Europe? This is disgraceful @FIFAcom pic.twitter.com/BlbWVxbfDK
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch echoed his stance, calling the ban “a national disgrace,” creating an unusual cross-party consensus that critics say prioritised political optics over public safety.
The Prime Minister’s position appeared particularly contradictory given his government’s recent announcement of plans to grant police new powers to restrict public demonstrations, particularly those related to Gaza, citing concerns over “excessive strain on police resources.”
Security analysts and pro-Palestinian advocates immediately sounded alarms. Ben Jamal, Director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, warned that if Starmer forced a reversal and Maccabi fans committed violence in Birmingham, “Keir Starmer will own that. He greenlighted it.”
Their concerns were starkly validated by subsequent research. A report by Kick It Out Israel, published on October 23, revealed a record 367 instances of racist chanting in the Israeli Premier League, with Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters being the worst offenders, linked to 118 incidents. The most common chant, “Let the IDF win, fuck the Arabs,” directly mirrored the genocidal slogans identified in the police intelligence from the Amsterdam rampage. This data provided independent, statistical confirmation that the group posed a significant and documented risk of racist abuse, fundamentally undermining the government’s political argument against the police.
The political leaders’ interventions proved spectacularly ill-timed when, on October 19, the Tel Aviv derby between Maccabi and Hapoel was cancelled due to “public disorder and serious violence” that posed a “risk to life.” Israeli police reported dozens of smoke grenades thrown, twelve civilians and three officers injured, and nine arrests. Viral footage showed Maccabi’s “ultra” fans roaming Jaffa before the match, allegedly searching for victims to assault.
The situation escalated further when Nandy made what critics called dangerously misleading claims in Parliament. During an October 20 debate, Nandy asserted, “There has been no such ban on all away fans from a game in the past 20 years,” a statement directly contradicted by Aston Villa’s ban on Legia Warsaw fans on police advice just the previous season.
After being challenged by Labour MP Richard Burgon, who retorted that “Aston Villa did exactly that… on police advice,” Lisa Nandy deflected by questioning his motives. She stated, “I hope he will reflect… on whether he can really stand… and say that he is not behaving in a way that is antisemitic.” Burgon later expanded, criticizing a campaign to “push the false claim that any criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic,” adding that “The people of Birmingham have a right to be kept safe.”
The controversy deepened the following day when former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn launched a formal condemnation of Nandy’s conduct. In a letter to the Culture Secretary, the Independent MP for Islington North expressed his “deep disappointment” and accused her of a “shameful misrepresentation” of his colleagues’ views.
Corbyn defended the police’s decision as being “about the risk to public safety, not about ‘banning Jewish people from going to the match or going to Birmingham.’”
He directly challenged Nandy’s claim that a full ban was unprecedented and condemned the conflation of the issue as “not just grossly misleading; it is irresponsible and represents a shameful attempt to exploit the fears and anxieties of Jewish people.” Corbyn concluded by demanding that Nandy “retract” her comments in Parliament.
Nazir Afzal OBE, former Chief Crown Prosecutor for NW England, delivered a sharp rebuke of the entire political interference: “When it comes to football-related violence, the police – not politicians, not armchair pundits – know what’s safe & what isn’t. The consequences of undermining operational police decisions can be catastrophic for public safety.”
Amid the political furore, a WMP Spokesperson confirmed that “A safety advisory group meeting will take place next week to consider the operational plan and make a final decision. Public safety remains our top priority.”
The fallout extended particularly to Muslim MPs who had supported the police decision, subjecting them to a torrent of abuse that one described as making Parliament feel “almost like a circus.”
Independent Birmingham MP Ayoub Khan, who led petitions backing the ban, revealed the severe personal consequences, stating the false accusations had put his family in “danger.” “It’s been quite vile,” Khan said. “It’s quite upsetting for the family, in particular children. No parliamentarian should find themselves in this position but it’s been driven there because of the false descriptions of my position.”
He denounced the “deliberate, disingenuous move by many to make this a matter of banning Jews, and to conflate matters of policing with those of religion,” adding, “Those who are not welcome in Aston are the hooligans who have a long history of violence and vile racism.”
Despite the political firestorm, a YouGov poll showed public opinion backed the police, with 42% of Britons supporting the ban versus 28% who opposed it.
Yet, the smear campaign targeting Khan and came from multiple quarters. Tory MP Jack Rankin falsely claimed that Khan “thinks that Jews should be banned from football matches,” and called him an “unintegrated, racist antisemite.” LBC journalist Iain Dale called Khan an “anti semitic racist c**t” in a since-deleted social media post. On October 17, The Telegraph editorialised that he was “enabling antisemitism” and that he “cannot continue to sit as an MP.”
This was amplified by coordinated online attacks labelling him a “terror supporter” and part of an “Islamic horde,” a campaign compounded when far-right activist Tommy Robinson donned a Maccabi shirt in a publicity stunt.Khan said he felt he and other Muslim independents were being unfairly singled out, adding that. “If the chief constable [who defended the ban] was a Muslim, my goodness – wouldn’t they have gone for him.” He described the atmosphere in the Parliament “like a circus.”
Fellow independent MP Adnan Hussain also condemned the “hostile environment,” warning that labelling critics as ‘sectarian’ or ‘Islamist’ was a “dangerous and slippery slope” that threatened MPs and democracy.
Amid the personal attacks, former footballer Stan Collymore provided devastating statistical context that underscored the professional rationale for the ban: “Maccabi Tel Aviv have had two match postponements in the last 266 days for public disorder. Aston Villa hasn’t had one in 50,080 days. Home or away. Gaslit.”
Political commentator Femi Oluwole underscored the government’s inconsistency: “The Labour government announced plans to ban protests against genocide because the police are too burdened. Now they’re demanding the police host fans with a history of racially aggravated violence. It’s institutional cowardice.”
Photo: Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy face accusations of misleading the public, disregarding police intelligence, and falsely accusing Birmingham MP Ayoub Khan and West Midlands Police (pictured Chief Constable Craig Guildford) of antisemitism – all to defend Maccabi Tel Aviv fans with a documented history of violent racism. (Credit: Wikimedia/UK Parliament/West Midlands Police/CC)
Read more: Editorial – The Maccabi scandal: How political cowardice threatened public safety
