Birmingham Communists - 'Keep Birmingham safe from Maccabi violence'

We note with relief that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans have been banned from attending a match against Aston Villa in Birmingham next month. According to research by the New Israel Foundation, Maccabi Tel Aviv has one of the most racist fan bases of any football team in Israel, with the teams Black and Arab players regularly facing racial abuse from fans.

Last year, Maccabi fans were filmed chanting “Why is there no school in Gaza? There are no children left there”, “We will take your girls, when we rape them we will shout today is death!”, and “Death to the Arabs”. In 2021, Maccabi hooligans attacked anti-Netanyahu protestors in Israel with batons and glass bottles.

Last year, Maccabi hooligans gained international notoriety for their behaviour in Amsterdam, where they attacked Muslims and pro-Palestine protestors prior to a match against Ajax. These attacks sparked days of rioting which resulted in a number of people being hospitalised and dozens more being injured.

The response to the ban on away fans has been absurd, offensive, and laden with racist undertones. Suggestions that the people of Birmingham are “savages”, that they harbour “tribal ancestral anti-Semitic views from Pakistan”, or that Birmingham is becoming a “no-go-zone for Jews” are blatantly false and patently racist.

The willingness of political pundits, including high-ranking Tory MP’s, to suggest that Birmingham is anti-Semitic because there are too many minorities “failing to integrate” is an appallingly racist falsehood that reveals a profound ignorance as to the people and the city of Birmingham. Aston has long been home to people of many different faiths and cultures, with a history of accepting waves of Irish, Afro-Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani, Eastern European and other migrants, and attempts to demonise the people of the area must be condemned.

Maccabi fans have been banned from this match due to a demonstrable history of violence and racism from football hooligans who pose a clear risk of causing havoc in our communities. We must stop any attempt to overturn this ban which is in the interest of public safety.

Further, recalling the powerful and effective worldwide boycott of South African sport during the Apartheid Era, we call for Israel and Israeli teams to be suspended from FIFA until Israel plays by international law and ends it occupation of Palestine.

Briony Cope Secretary

James McLelland Chair

Birmingham and District Communist Party

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