17/10/2025 08:46
The Guardian
Fans of the Israeli football team will not be allowed to attend the Europa League match at Aston Villa on 6 November owing to safety concernsJack Angelides, chief executive of Maccabi Tel Aviv, told the Today programme that he would have expected more than 1,000 fans to attend the Europa League match in Birmingham.He said he felt some “dismay” about the decision the ban on his team’s supporters attending. He explained:I do think this is an extremely important moment because of what it signifies.I don’t use this term lightly but people ask ‘what does antisemitism look like?’ And it’s often manifested as part of a process, a process, in other words, small events leading up to something that’s more sinister.[This] also begs the question a little bit to be honest – well, there is a delegation coming of management, of players, and all the supporting staff, are we saying that they will be secure also or that there are issues with them?It’s obviously about much wider issues surrounding the Gaza war, and that sends a really worrying message about British society – that we aren’t civilised enough to have a debate over this without it descending into football violence or violent attacks on fans who are coming from another country just because we disagree with that country’s policies. It just makes a very febrile political situation worse I think.There’s no evidence of Maccabi’s fans being particularly violent. They don’t have a track record in all of their previous European games of having a violent fan group. So really this is a political message rather than a safety message. Continue reading...
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