"Dutch police have questioned the credibility of claims used by British officers to justify excluding Israeli fans from a football match in Birmingham in their testimony to an official inquiry."

"Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were banned from the Europa League game against Aston Villa in November by a Birmingham safety committee following intelligence from West Midlands police."

"The decision caused outrage and claims police were caving in to antisemitism. Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, ordered the policing inspectorate to investigate the affair."

"The first part of the inquiry by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary has examined West Midlands police’s (WMP) handling of that intelligence. The findings are due this week and sources from senior policing, Whitehall and Birmingham’s local government expect them to be critical."

"Central to the WMP case is what they were told by Dutch police as they planned for the game. The force says this intelligence led them to believe Maccabi fans had been perpetrators of violence during a match against Ajax in Amsterdam in November 2024."

"But HMIC spoke to Dutch police, who told its inquiry that several key claims relied on by WMP clashed with its experience of policing Maccabi fans during that game, which was marred by violence."

"Dutch police said claims such as one that Maccabi fans had thrown Muslims into an Amsterdam river were incorrect. Indeed Dutch police said the only incident remotely like that involved a Maccabi fan being found in the water."

The Guardian  

 

"[West Midlands police] knew extremists were planning to attack Jews for going to a football match."

"[Their response was to] blame and remove Jewish people instead."

 Kemi Badenoch, British Conservative Party leader

Police were present outside Aston Villa’s stadium during the match on November 2025. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty Images

When a Europa League soccer match between Birmingham club Aston Villa and Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv took place on November 6 in Birmingham, they played to 43,000 vacant sets. Birmingham Police chief Craig Guildford, chief constable of the West Midlands Police had decided for safety's sake that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans would be excluded from watching the game in the stadium, warning that Maccabi fans represented a potential threat to public order and safety. As proof, he cited violence the fans had caused at an October 2024 Europe League match that had taken place in Amsterdam.

Fans of these games will recall that hooligans hunted down Maccabi fans in the streets of Amsterdam, threatening and assaulting them, as part of the global pro-Palestinian movement that targeted Jews everywhere in the wake of the 7 October 2023 atrocities committed by Palestinian terrorist groups in southern Israel. 

 

Yet, West Midlands Police warned that Maccabi fans had committed "serious assaults including throwing random members of the public into canal, specifically targeting Muslims", and claiming that their Dutch counterparts had given them this advice prior to the Birmingham game. Should the match proceed with fans in attendance, they claimed, it would take 5,000 police officers to maintain peace, given the cited circumstances. 

 

Pro-Israel protesters march to demonstrate at Villa Park in Birmingham, central England, on November 6, 2025, ahead of the UEFA Europa League league-stage football match between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv. (Oli SCARFF / AFP)

 

There had been instant reaction to the situation from fans, the public and politicians, but the police edict on empty stands held. Since then however, Dutch police came forward to deny categorically that they had ever contacted Birmingham police, much less given them such advice, disputing the entire version of the Birmingham police's take on the Amsterdam events where in point of fact four people were convicted and imprisoned for assaults they committed against supporters of the Maccabi team.

 

It seems that a review of the decision after the fact by the head of the United Kingdom Football Policing Unit concluded that "high confidence intelligence (that) references element of the community in West Midlands wanting to 'arm' themselves" was the motivator, but was withheld, because it would have implicated the Birmingham Muslim community. 

 

Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate outside Villa Park in Birmingham, central England, on November 6, 2025 ahead of the UEFA Europa League league-stage football match between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP via Getty Images)

 

It was, in fact, elements from within the Muslim community constituting close to ten percent of the West Midlands population, that were of concern, and necessitated the shutting down of normal processes to avoid potential violence linked to 'elements' arming themselves. No one needs to arm themselves to watch a sporting event. But a sporting event featuring a storied Israeli soccer team, bringing hundreds if not thousands of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans would present an opportunity for Muslim fans of beating up Jews to act out their fantasies.

"[If Guildford -- West Midlands Police’s chief constable Craig Guildford --does not resign], responsibility lies with central government to intervene. Significant harm has been done to the confidence of the Jewish community in the Police."

"It seems that the police reached a decision first, and then searched for evidence to justify it, apparently influenced by the threat posed by local extremists."

"It is also apparent that claims about the previous behavior of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were unsubstantiated or erroneous."

Board of Deputies of British Jews and Jewish Leadership Council 

Aston Villa’s Spanish manager Unai Emery (right) and Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Serbian coach Zarko Lazetic (left) shake hands after the final whistle in the UEFA Europa League league-stage football match between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv at Villa Park in Birmingham on November 6, 2025. (Oli SCARFF / AFP)