I see that a rumour is doing the rounds which seems to have originated from an unnamed source in the Guardian, that the reason for the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans ban at Aston Villa was not to do with the safety of Israeli and Jewish fans at the game but police intelligence that the fans themselves were the threat.
Now, I guess this would provoke the follow up question “what exactly is this intelligence”? The word gives the impression that the police have access to secret information, not available to the public. Perhaps they were alerted to specific information concerning the specific plans of hooligan elements within the club.
However, when you look at the Guardian report, that’s not the nature of the claims. Rather, it’s claimed that the intelligence concerns the violence at the Ajax v Maccabi game back in 2024 and the part Maccabi fans played. The suggestion is that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were to blame.
There are two problems with this claim. First, that this isn’t some secret intelligence that only the police are privy to. The events in Amsterdam are well documented as are other incidents of football hooliganism from Maccabi fans. Sadly such hooliganism isn’t unusual among football supporters across Europe. I’m cautious though of unverified claims about Maccabi chants that begin to sound a little bit like the old blood libels.
The second problem is that because the violence at that game is public knowledge, we can check the reports from closer to the time. Here is one example which whilst showing that Tel Aviv fans were involved in trouble, they were very much the ones attacked and put in danger.
So what happened at the Safety Advisory Group? Well, there are two possibilities. The first, is that the police did focus in their advice on the behaviour of Maccabi fans. If so, that would be concerning especially if they were oblivious to the potential fall out of focusing in on Israeli/Jewish fans. It would suggest implicit bias and would put the advice at odds with the facts.
The second possibility is that the Guardian’s source was reporting accurately part but only part of the evidence submitted but not all of it. It would be surprising and disturbing if evidence was not submitted concerning the way that tensions were being stoked and some of the other rhetoric we have heard. Whilst this would be more acceptable in terms of the evidence looked at, it still exposes issues in terms of how decisions are made.
What continues to be the case is that there are those still seeking to politicise the match (not just the supporters) as part of a wider response to Israeli government decisions and actions. It is troubling to see the way in which this involves substantial impact on ordinary Jews and Israelis.
Faithroots 