The charge levelled against the West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council in respect of the football match between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv is, essentially, that the force and the local authority have failed in their duty to protect the lawful rights of the Israeli fans wishing to attend.
The charge is a serious one and has been echoed by the leaders of all the main political parties, except for the Greens. Many public figures, including Sir Keir Starmer, have asked for the decision to be reviewed.
Their argument carries a good deal of weight. It certainly feels instinctively very wrong that, unusually in continental football, a set of fans should be banned from a game not simply because of their behaviour, but because of who they are, that is to say, their identity or ethnicity.
There was always likely to be trouble at a football match between an Israeli side in a Muslim area of a major British city, but it is the fact that the judgement has been made by the council’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG) that has aroused suspicion. The police and the council’s acceptance of the SAG’s recommendation – the clubs have had little say in the matter – has attracted claims that the decision is antisemitic, at least in its effect, discriminatory and thus possibly unlawful.
Some of those who have backed the council have not helped matters. Ayoub Khan, the independent MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, says that part of the motivation in endorsing the ban is that any Israeli team in any sport, and presumably any cultural event, should be barred as part of a wider campaign against the Israeli government and its treatment of the Palestinian people. This has proved to be an additional and inflammatory contribution to the debate, aside from public safety concerns.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism is seeking a judicial review, and the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, Lisa Nandy, is meeting Home Office officials to see if there are ways to have the ban lifted. No 10 says it is working to find a solution “at pace”.
Yet all politicians should understand and honour the principle that operational policing decisions have to be taken by individual force commanders. If politicians acquire the power to direct the police to act, lawfully or not, then a significant step is taken towards an authoritarian society.
The encounter between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax in Amsterdam last year resulted in violence and arrests, and the “ultras” in the Israeli travelling support behaved in a highly provocative manner – racist chants mocking the suffering of Palestinian children in Gaza, and tearing down Palestinian flags. Not all fans were guilty of that, and many will not support the Israeli government’s policies, but the ones who do, and do so loudly, can cause disproportionate distress and civil disturbances. There is every reason to suspect that similar scenes, or worse, would be seen around Birmingham, and that counterprotests would be inevitable. The numbers involved could be formidable.
After the recent tragedy at the Manchester synagogue, any police commander or council leader will also be mindful of the possibility of terrorism. How would anyone in charge of such an event feel – indeed, how would the country feel – if some extremist found a way to drive a car into the crowds on their way to the game, or planted a bomb in the vicinity?
Would that not be an even greater “national disgrace” to allow that foreseeable atrocity to take place? Is it better to take that risk, under political pressure, or err on the side of caution to save lives? What secret intelligence do the West Midlands Police and the security services have on possible terrorist threats?
Given that the arguments have grown so bitter and divisive, it seems inevitable that the ban on the away supporters will be reviewed. It has become a national matter. It would be best if the West Midlands police and Birmingham City Council were given all the advice, intelligence and resources they need to allow the game to be played in as normal a fashion as possible. As with large political demonstrations, that would mean drafting in officers from other forces, providing appropriate equipment, imposing a wide dispersal and “exclusion zone” around Villa Park and its neighbourhoods, tight escort of the away fans, plus extensive surveillance and much else.
The Europa League fixture between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday 6 November could well turn out to be one of the strangest matches ever played on British soil, but if it can be made acceptably safe for the fans and for the residents, then of course it should go ahead. If not, and the challenges are perhaps insurmountable, then the operational independence and judgement of the police must be respected. At a mass event, safety should always come first.
