Just days before the derby collapsed in violence, West Midlands Police and Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group announced that Maccabi Tel Aviv’s fans would be banned from travelling to England for their Europa League fixture against Aston Villa. The decision was based purely on safety concerns. Police intelligence indicated potential crowd trouble, and the decision followed standard crowd-control procedures used countless times before for high-risk fixtures.

But within hours, the British government intervened — not to support the police, but to rebuke them. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and senior ministers declared that the ban was “wrong” and that it “sent the wrong message” about antisemitism. The line was clear: banning Israeli fans could be seen as antisemitic, and therefore the decision must be politically condemned.

This was not about safety. It was not about football. It was about political optics — about projecting unflinching loyalty to Israel and using the charge of antisemitism as a political shield.

Safety Recast as Sin

The police decision was a procedural one — not a political one. Their reasoning mirrored the same logic used in many European fixtures where large-scale crowd management risks have been identified. There was no mention of religion or ethnicity. The issue was not that the fans were Israeli or Jewish, but that there were legitimate operational concerns about disorder.

By recasting that decision as “antisemitic,” the British government distorted the truth. It weaponised the most serious of moral accusations to serve a political purpose.

This is not the first time Downing Street has blurred that line. Over the past year, the government has shown a disturbing willingness to brand criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza as antisemitism — silencing voices of dissent, smearing peaceful protestors, and censoring legitimate political debate.

But this time, their ploy has backfired.

When the Tel Aviv derby itself descended into chaos and violence, it exposed the hollowness of the British government’s moral grandstanding. The very disorder the police had warned about materialised — not in Birmingham, but in Tel Aviv. And suddenly, the government’s insistence that safety concerns were merely “disguised prejudice” collapsed under the weight of reality.

Complicity and Propaganda

This episode does more than expose political opportunism — it reveals the depth of Britain’s complicity in Israel’s ongoing war and propaganda narrative. For months, ministers have blurred the line between opposing antisemitism and suppressing criticism of Israel. That conflation has served one purpose: to provide political cover for Israel’s assault on Gaza, an assault that countless human rights organisations — and much of the world — have described as genocidal.

The pattern is clear:

• Protests against Israel’s military actions are painted as hate marches.
• Calls for ceasefire are dismissed as “one-sided.”
• University students demanding justice for Palestinians are accused of spreading antisemitism.
• And now, a police safety decision about football fans is framed as another moral failing against Jewish people.

This reflexive, dishonest politicisation of antisemitism has become one of the government’s most powerful weapons — not against hate, but against truth.

Politics Before People

By leaping to condemn the police, the government has revealed that it values symbolic allegiance over public safety. The message is unmistakable: evidence matters less than image; national security less than political positioning.

And the irony is devastating — in its attempt to show solidarity with Jewish and Israeli communities, the government has instead turned them into political instruments.

It has cheapened the fight against antisemitism by using it as a rhetorical prop to defend indefensible policies abroad and to silence accountability at home. In doing so, it has undermined both justice and safety.

When the Facts Catch Up

The cancellation of the Maccabi–Hapoel derby for violent disorder has shattered the illusion. It proves that the police’s concerns were legitimate, their reasoning grounded, and their restraint justified.

The government’s moral posturing now looks dangerously misplaced. It tried to make a point about prejudice, but in the process exposed its own — a prejudice for propaganda over truth, for optics over integrity.

Time to Back-Pedal

It is time for the British government to back-pedal — not just on this incident, but on its entire approach to Israel and antisemitism.

The public sees through the theatre. They see a government that invokes antisemitism not to protect Jewish people, but to protect its alliance with Israel. They see ministers who decry “hate” while staying silent in the face of collective punishment and mass civilian death in Gaza.

And now, they see how hollow that moral performance truly is.

This was not just a football decision — it was a mirror. And what it reflects back is a government that has lost its moral compass, trading truth for convenience, justice for narrative, and people for politics.