West Midlands Police has said that a senior officer did not intend to suggest that members of Birmingham’s Jewish community supported the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from
attending a European football match in the city.
During questioning by MPs on Monday, Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara appeared to confirm that Jewish community representatives had said they did not want away fans attending the Europa League tie between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv on 6 November. However, following criticism and concern, the force has now clarified that this was not what he meant to convey.
According to the Sunday Times, ACC O’Hara has since written to members of the Jewish community to apologise for the confusion caused by his remarks.
The decision to exclude away fans from Villa Park drew widespread criticism, including from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who was said to be “angered” by the move. West Midlands Police had classified the match as high risk, citing intelligence and previous incidents.
When questioned by the Home Affairs Committee, committee chair Karen Bradley asked ACC O’Hara whether Jewish representatives had asked for Maccabi fans to be excluded. He responded “yes” several times, later adding that concerns had been raised by people from a “range of faiths, backgrounds and ethnicities” and that this was recorded in the force’s risk analysis.
Following the backlash, a police spokesperson said: “It was never the intention of the officer to imply that there were members of the Jewish community who had explicitly expressed support for the exclusion of Maccabi fans.”
The force said it would continue to engage with MPs and community representatives to ensure this was clarified. “We recognise that this has been a difficult time for our local Jewish community, and we continue to actively engage with them,” the spokesperson added.
In his apology letter seen by the Sunday Times, ACC O’Hara said he was aware of “consternation within the local Jewish community” about his evidence and stressed that he never intended to suggest Jewish support for the fan ban.
The decision to bar away supporters was taken by Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group, which includes representatives from the city council and police. It was partly based on intelligence provided by Dutch police.
Giving evidence, Chief Constable Craig Guildford said Dutch authorities had warned of previous violent clashes involving Maccabi ultras and local Muslim communities around matches. He said the group had been described as “well organised” and that past incidents included attacks on taxi drivers, the tearing down of flags and people being pushed into a river.
However, Dutch police later disputed elements of this intelligence. The government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, Lord Mann, told MPs that only one flag was torn down and that just one taxi driver incident had occurred before the Amsterdam game referenced by police.
Following the ban, Sir Keir Starmer said antisemitism would not be tolerated and stressed that the police’s role was to ensure all football fans could attend matches safely and without intimidation.
The Villa Park match went ahead with more than 700 officers on duty and concluded without serious disorder. Only a small number of arrests were made.
Before kick-off, hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators and a smaller group of pro-Israeli protesters gathered outside the stadium, waving banners and flags. Photo by West Midlands Police, Wikimedia commons.
