Jewish leader 'disappointed' by Maccabi ban claims

A community leader said she was "very disappointed and distressed" over claims Jewish representatives had agreed with the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from attending a football match in Birmingham.

The Sunday Times reported West Midlands Police (WMP) Assistant Chief Constable Mike O'Hara had written to members of the Jewish community to apologise.

Asked repeatedly by MPs last week if Jewish community representatives had said they did not want Maccabi fans attending the Europa League game with Aston Villa on 6 November, Mr O'Hara said "yes".

A spokesperson for the force said he had not meant to imply that members of the Jewish community had agreed with the exclusion of the Israeli fans.

Ruth Jacobs, chair of Birmingham and West Midlands Jewish Community, said she had been "horrified" at the suggestion.

"We in the Jewish community could not imagine who from our community would have said such a thing – to have agreed to the ban," she told the BBC.

She said police had not met anyone from her community before the decision was made.

Ms Jacobs said that while the apology letter was "honest and sincere", trust and confidence in the police had been "undermined" for a lot of people in the Jewish community as a result of what the force had asserted in the run up to the game.

Meanwhile, policing minister Sarah Jones has declined to say whether she has confidence in the force's leadership.

She told the Commons it was "clear" mistakes were made when Birmingham's Safety Advisory Group (SAG) moved to bar Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from the match.

Conservative MP Nick Timothy used an urgent question to summon Jones to the despatch box and said he thought Chief Constable Craig Guildford "must go".

He said he feared WMP had used artificial intelligence (AI) to come to its conclusions, relying on a false narrative that involved a made-up game between the Israeli team and West Ham in 2023.

"The police are accused of fabricating evidence to justify a predetermined outcome demanded by Islamists," he said.

Many in predominantly Muslim areas of Birmingham welcomed the SAG decision to bar the Israeli team’s travelling fans, citing fears of violence.

As the match was played last month, pro-Palestinian protesters, including Independent MP Ayoub Khan, gathered outside the stadium, waving flags and banners calling for an end to violence in Gaza.

Giving evidence to MPs a week ago, WMP’s chief constable said intelligence had been provided to his force by Dutch police commanders that “ultras” among the Maccabi fan base “were very well organised, militaristic in the way that they operated”.

He added that the Dutch commanders were "unequivocal" that they "would never want to have Maccabi Tel Aviv playing in Amsterdam again in the future".

His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services said it was looking into risk assessment advice provided to local safety advisory groups and would hand its findings to the government by 31 March 2026.

The inspectorate will also provide a specific update on the intelligence gathered by WMP and the way it was used, by the end of this year.

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