Like Russia, Israel should be barred from European football - Steve Cardownie
The decision to prevent Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans from attending their Europa League match against Aston villa in Birmingham has aroused a great deal of controversy, culminating in the Israel club issuing a statement that it would not take up any ticket allocation even if now offered.
Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG) classified the game as “high risk” due to safety concerns. This decision was supported by West Midlands Police, citing previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crimes from a 2024 Europa League match involving Maccabi in Amsterdam, which formed some of the intelligence leading to the ban.
SAG is a local forum comprising the city council, police and event organisers who recommended that no away fans should be allowed to attend to mitigate risks to public safety.
Following the return of Maccabi fans to Israel after their game against AFC Ajax last November, a video was posted on social media showing them chanting the same racist slogans that they chanted in Amsterdam such as, “Why is school out in Gaza? There are no children left there” and “death to Arabs.”
A columnist for the Guardian newspaper, Owen Jones, criticised the media coverage of the events for failing to report the Maccabi fans behaviour, quite rightly saying, “if you condemn racist fanatics literally relishing the mass slaughter of children, then you will be branded a hateful bigot.”
Maccabi fans were ambushed and assaulted across Amsterdam city centre which was condemned as “antisemitic” by Amsterdam’s Mayor, Femke Halsema.
The question in my mind is, why were Israeli clubs allowed to participate in European football tournaments in the first place given that country’s genocidal policy in Gaza?
Nearly 70,000 people killed, 59 per cent of them being women, children and the elderly according to The Lancet.
Israel, like Russia, should never have been allowed to participate!