Following a controversial ban by British police of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a match next month in Birmingham, the Israeli team on Tuesday gave up its allocation of spectator seats, citing security reasons.
“We have taken the decision to decline any allocation offered on behalf of away fans,” Maccabi Tel Aviv wrote in a statement, explaining the decision was due to how “The wellbeing and safety of our fans is paramount” and owes to “hard lessons learned.”
The decision, which would leave the Villa Park Stadium to the fans of the Aston Villa team during the Nov. 6 Europa League match, followed a condemnation by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the police’s decision to ban Maccabi fans from the match. Government officials said they were working to reverse the ban, which Starmer called “wrong.”
Maccabi Tel Aviv in its statement said they “acknowledge the efforts of the U.K. government and police to ensure both sets of fans can attend the match safely,” and are “grateful for the messages of support from across the footballing community and society at large.”
Aston Villa team bosses have allowed stewards and other staff not to work on the day of the match, a measure that could prevent the game from taking place even if the police ban were lifted, The Guardian reported on Sunday.
In announcing the ban, the police cited violence that erupted in Amsterdam on Nov. 7-8 last year, when dozens of Muslim men hunted for Maccabi fans in town for a match. Many of the perpetrators referred to their targets as “Jews” on instant messaging platforms they used to coordinate what some of them called a “Jew hunt.”
Gary Mond, chairman of the U.K.’s National Jewish Assembly (NJA), a Jewish community organ that has been critical of the prime minister and his Labor Party, told JNS that “nobody can take Starmer’s protestations seriously.” Starmer’s government, “along with its Conservative predecessor, has allowed antisemitism to flourish and become normalized in all aspects of public life—schools, hospitals, universities, places of employment, entertainment and sport. His sincerity is wholly questionable,” said Mond. The ban was “a badge of shame for both West Midlands Police and the U.K. as a whole and must be reversed,” he added.
Emily Damari, a British-Israeli woman released from captivity in Gaza after 470 days, joined the ban’s many Jewish critics, calling it “shocking” and “disgusting” last week.
“I was released from Hamas captivity in January and I am a diehard fan of Maccabi Tel Aviv,” said Damari, who also supports London’s Tottenham Hotspur F.C. “I am shocked to my core with this outrageous decision to ban me, my family and my friends from attending an Aston Villa game in the U.K.”
