UK: Report into Maccabi Tel Aviv police ban failed to include local Muslim voices
The head of a British policing watchdog tasked with investigating the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending the Israeli football club’s match against Aston Villa failed to include any voices from Birmingham’s Muslim community in his preliminary report.
The report by Andy Cooke, the chief inspector of constabulary, led to the UK Home Secretary Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood saying that she had “no confidence” in Craig Guildford, the chief constable of West Midlands Police (WMP), prompting Guildford’s immediate retirement.
In a letter last week to Mahmood, who had commissioned the review, Cooke said he had conducted “twenty interviews with significant people” as part of his initial investigation into police intelligence-gathering used to justify the ban.
Those interviewed by Cooke include the charge d’affaires from the Israeli embassy in London, a representative of the Jewish Representative Council for Birmingham and West Midlands, and Lord Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism.
However, Cooke did not include any voices from Muslim community groups or mosque leaders. Muslims make up approximately 30 percent of Birmingham’s population and almost 10 percent of the wider West Midlands region, according to census data.
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Cooke, the head of His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), was tasked by Mahmood at the end of October with reviewing WMP’s decision to ban Maccabi fans from the November Europa League fixture at Villa Park
In his preliminary report, Cooke told Mahmood that his team has further interviews to conduct, noting that he would “also wish to speak to other local community representatives” without specifying which community.
A spokesperson for HMICFRS declined to comment.
But a source told MEE that Cooke and his team had interviewed Muslim community groups, but had been unable to include their interviews due to the Home Office's “tight” deadline for the preliminary report.
'British Muslims are treated as expendable. That is how Muslims on the ground in Birmingham feel at the moment'
Ayoub Khan MP
The source added that it planned to include interviews with Muslim community groups in the next update to the Home Office.
Ayoub Khan, the MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, the constituency where Aston Villa’s Villa Park stadium is located, told MEE that Cooke’s team had not so far contacted him or local councillors as part of its inquiry.
“They should have reached out to me. I have a political view on these matters, but there is no reason why they shouldn’t have consulted elected representatives,” Khan told MEE.
“British Muslims are treated as expendable. That is how Muslims on the ground in Birmingham feel at the moment, and there is deep grievance about it.”
He added that while some of Cooke’s concerns were acknowledged publicly, Muslim perspectives had been marginalised.
“There has been discussion in the media about Andy Cooke’s concerns around Muslims being targeted, whether as individuals or as communities. But the reality is that Muslims themselves were not consulted, even though they were the ones being targeted.”
Khan said the loss of trust was directed more at politicians than at local police.
“The confidence that has been lost is not in West Midlands Police. It is in politicians - particularly the home secretary, whose constituency neighbours mine,” he said.
“People feel scapegoated by extreme political rhetoric that repeatedly labels Muslims without evidence, referring to them as ‘Islamist thugs’. It feels like open season, and Muslims are treated as expendable.”
HMICFRS did not respond to Khan’s claims.
Jewish Voice for Liberation (JVL), a group representing Jews who are critical of Israel, also voiced concerns over the lack of Muslim representation in Cooke's report.
In a letter to Simon Foster, the police and crimes commissioner for the West Midlands, JVL's David Mond and Jenny Manson said they were "surprised" and "dismayed" at the lack of representation from Birmingham's Muslim community.
"We note with surprise and dismay that in the preliminary report that Sir Andy Cooke, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary presented to the Home Secretary, no mention is made of any interview with any Birmingham Muslim organisation or individual," they wrote.
"And yet the Chief Inspector of Constabulary found time to meet with three organisations concerned with antisemitism, and not a single organisation concerned with the welfare of Muslims.
"We believe that the widespread coverage of this issue as one in which the overriding concerns are 'antisemitism' and relations between the police and the Jewish community will ultimately be to the detriment of community relations in Birmingham and more widely."
Despite the preliminary nature of Cooke’s report, Mahmood declared she had “no confidence” in Guildford and made a lengthy statement in parliament urging him to step down.
Before Mahmood’s statement, Guildford also appeared before the Home Affairs Select Committee twice to justify his force’s decision to justify the ban.
At the first hearing, Guildford admitted that part of the evidence compiled by West Midlands Police to justify the ban, including a reference to a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham that never took place, was obtained in error using artificial intelligence.
The decision to ban Maccabi fans nonetheless sparked outrage within the British government, with Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy making unfounded claims that the decision was influenced by antisemitism.
Guildford defended the decision and said it was not taken lightly and was a “necessary tactic with a legitimate aim, absolutely not antisemitic, rather a carefully considered, legitimate and necessary measure to ensure public safety”.
Maccabi Tel Aviv incident
The West Midlands Police assessment, which led to the ban, was based on intelligence from Dutch police regarding the conduct of Maccabi fans during a match against Amsterdam in November 2024.
A Guardian report on 21 October said that the police assessment "concluded the biggest risk of violence came from extremist fans of the Israeli club".
Middle East Eye separately revealed that Dutch police told their British counterparts that over 200 Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans who wreaked havoc in Amsterdam were "linked" to the Israeli military.
'The Chief Inspector of Constabulary found time to meet with three organisations concerned with antisemitism, and not a single organisation concerned with the welfare of Muslims'
- David Mond and Jenny Manson, Jewish Voice for Liberation
Documents seen by MEE said hundreds of fans were "experienced fighters", "highly organised" and "intent on causing serious violence".
Dutch police reported that "significant numbers of Maccabi fans were actively involved in demonstrations and confrontations".
Early reporting by media outlets on the violence in Amsterdam in 2024 characterised the violence as a "pogrom" against Jewish football fans.
Footage later emerged of Maccabi fans attacking locals and chanting racist slogans against Arabs.
Violence involving Maccabi Tel Aviv fans is not limited to matches outside of Israel.
Last October, Israeli authorities in Tel Aviv cancelled the match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv due to what police there described as "violent riots".
Videos also emerged from November of dozens of Maccabi fans launching fireworks at a building that housed the apartment of their manager, Zarko Lazetic, amid the club's recent poor run of results.
According to the Israeli outlet Ynet, Lazetic has since resigned, telling an associate that he "feels threatened and unprotected".
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