Jewish community leader welcomes fan ban report

A Jewish community leader has welcomed a report into the controversial banning of Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from an Aston Villa game.

A Home Affairs Committee report into events surrounding the November match found the decision by Birmingham's Safety Advisory Group (SAG) may have been "unduly influenced by political pressure".

West Midlands Police admitted it "overstated the evidence" used to make the decision, while Birmingham City Council said there were "clear actions" for the authority to undertake.

Birmingham and West Midlands Jewish Community chairwoman Ruth Jacobs said the "majority of the community will be pleased" that the report "highlighted the wrong actions".

She added they "would be optimistic for the future that the council and the police will have learnt lessons from this".

"Regrettably antisemitism and anti-Zionism... very much seems to be on the increase, which is a big fear for all the community.

"The steps that the council and the police are taking towards helping to deal with this, if they can be effective, they're making every effort to do something."

After reviewing evidence presented by the force, the SAG ruled supporters of the Israeli club should not be permitted to attend the Europa League match over safety concerns.

The Home Affairs Committee said it had considered the presence of city councillors on the SAG, including one who had campaigned against the fixture taking place.

Aston councillor Mumtaz Hussain had failed to declare an interest when attending a SAG meeting on 7 October and "later characterised some Maccabi Tel Aviv fans as 'thugs'", the report stated.

She recused herself from a later meeting on 24 October.

Councillor Waseem Zaffar, who has since passed away, declared an interest as a campaigner against the match at the first SAG meeting.

"However, while his contributions to the SAG mostly related to safety, he nonetheless relayed the view of his community 'that this game should not go ahead,'" the report said.

The council has commissioned an independent review of its SAG processes.

The Liberal Democrat group said Hussain reiterated on Monday her main concern "was always the safety of the community and the fans of both teams".

"As a member of the Villa Park Safety Advisory Group... she attended the meeting to represent the local community to the best of her ability, and supported the decision it made based on the assessment provided by West Midlands Police."

Council leader John Cotton said police evidence was the key driver of the SAG's decision, "but there are also clear actions for the council, which we will undertake".

The force stated it was "fully committed" to learning from the events surrounding the ban and was seeking to restore the public's trust and confidence in the force.

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