Britain Has Just Told Its Jews: You Are Not Safe Here

When West Midlands Police announced that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans would be banned from attending the UEFA Europa League match against Aston Villa at Villa Park, it was more than a policing decision - it was a moral collapse.

It sent a chilling message to Britain’s Jewish community: we cannot protect Jewish football fans, so you are the ones who must stay home.

Never forget that anti-Israel MP Ayoub Khan campaigned to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from this game; he’s claimed this as his victory.

His petition was signed by Jeremy Corbyn, whose appalling views are well known.

For the past two years, police have allowed tens of thousands of Muslims and left-wing activists - many openly supporting Hamas - to flood the streets of London week after week.

They have chanted “from the river to the sea,” waved a proscribed terrorist group’s flags, and screamed antisemitic slurs without consequence.

Did the police ever cite “safety concerns for Jews” as a reason to halt those marches?Yet now, when Jewish-Israeli football fans wish to attend a sporting event to support their team, suddenly “safety” becomes a justification for exclusion.

This is not about safety - it is surrender.The decision to bar Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters is not a precaution; it is capitulation to intimidation. It rewards the very extremism that the police claim to be protecting against.

By excluding Jews, the authorities have effectively told the mob: your threats work.Britain prides itself on being a democracy founded on equality before the law.

That principle is now in question. How can a country that once stood alone against Nazism now accept a situation where Jews are told that their presence is too dangerous to manage?

How can it tolerate a reality where antisemitic hatred is met with indulgence, while Jewish freedom of association, movement and the simple pleasure of attending a football game is met with this?This is the ultimate in victim-blaming; it’s pathetic, and it must stop.

The double standards are staggering. When mobs chant “death to Israel” on London’s streets, they are permitted to march freely. When Jewish football supporters wish to wave their flag in peace, they are told to stay away for their own good.

What kind of message does that send to Britain’s Jews and to the extremists who target them?West Midlands Police have effectively admitted that Jews are not safe in the UK’s second-largest city. That is an extraordinary and shameful admission.

The role of the police is not to hide the victims - it is to confront the perpetrators. If security is a concern, then increase the police presence. Arrest those who threaten violence.

But do not punish Jews for being the targets of hate.

As the extraordinarily brave Emily Damari wrote on X this morning:

“I was released from Hamas captivity in January, and I am a die-hard fan of Maccabi Tel Aviv.

I am shocked to my core by this outrageous decision to ban me, my family and my friends from attending an Aston Villa game in the UK. 

Football is a way of bringing people together irrespective of their faith, colour or religion, and this disgusting decision does the exact opposite. Shame on you.

I hope you come to your senses and reconsider. I do wonder what exactly has become of British society. This is like putting a big sign on the outside of a stadium saying,

“No Jews allowedWhat has become of the UK, where blatant antisemitism has become the norm? What a sad world we are living in.”

Emily is absolutely correct.

The British government must urgently intervene to overturn this decision.

Allowing it to stand would set a dangerous precedent not just for Jews, but for all minorities in the UK.Britain must decide what kind of nation it wants to be.

A country that bends to those who threaten violence - or one that stands firm in defence of its values.

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Sharren Haskel is the Israeli Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

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