Police consulted mosques that have been accused of hosting antisemitic preachers before taking the decision to ban Israeli fans from a football match in Birmingham.
West Midlands police spoke to eight Muslim organisations before its controversial decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from the Europa League fixture against Aston Villa in November.
It is alleged, however, that three of the organisations consulted had provided platforms for preachers who either called for the death of Jews or promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories.
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The police force said that it would not be making any comment before Tuesday, when parliament’s Home Affairs committee is due to question its chief constable, Craig Guildford, about its “decision making around the policing of the football match”.
Craig Guildford giving evidence to the home affairs committee on football policing
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West Midlands police is under pressure over its banning of the Israeli team’s supporters from the November 6 fixture.
It has claimed that the ban was to avoid violent behaviour by Maccabi Tel Aviv’s supporters.
Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister, is among many who have said that the force made the wrong decision.
It emerged last week in a letter written by the chief constable and published by MPs that West Midlands police had undertaken “extensive community engagement prior to the fixture” including with Muslim community leaders and mosque representatives.
According to The Sunday Telegraph, three of the eight Muslim organisations consulted have hosted preachers holding antisemitic views.
Al-Habib mosque in Birmingham was accused of hosting a preacher who recommended to worshippers that they read The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an antisemitic book describing a plot of Jewish world domination.
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans ignite flares at a match against Ajax in Amsterdam
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Meanwhile, the city’s Jame mosque, which was also consulted by police, has been accused of providing a platform to a preacher who called for the death of Jews.
Another organisation consulted, the Green Lane mosque, previously had government funding suspended after video emerged of a preacher there arguing that “homosexuality is not permissible”.
It previously said that the clip had been taken out of context and said that it rejected violent extremism.
None of the organisations responded to a request for a comment on Sunday.
Lord Walney, the former Labour politician and independent government adviser on political violence and disruption, told the newspaper that West Midlands police’s “apparent acquiescence to organisations accused of shocking extremism sets a very dangerous precedent.”
The Sunday Times reported that police produced false evidence to retrospectively justify banning Israeli fans from the Aston Villa match after Birmingham city council told the force it had been “challenged” over the decision and needed a clearer “rationale”.
Minutes from a safety advisory group meeting record police claiming that their support for a ban had been based on a single officer’s “professional judgment” and “in the absence of intelligence”.
It subsequently produced “intelligence” about the Maccabi Tel Aviv fanbases after a council officer said that they had been asked to obtain information to counter claims of “anti-Jewish sentiment”.
Between October 7, the date of the first safety group meeting, and the final meeting on October 23 police allegedly upgraded the perceived threat to Birmingham’s Muslim community from Israeli fans from medium to high while downgrading the perceived threat to Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from high to medium.
Aston Villa fans watch the game against Maccabi Tel Aviv in front of the empty away end at Villa Park
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The force also allegedly began to focus on disorder that erupted in Amsterdam in November 2024 when Maccabi Tel Aviv played Ajax. It has been accused of exaggerating the size of the Dutch police’s response to the disorder, which it said included Israelis “randomly” throwing innocent civilians into canals.
Birmingham city council said on Sunday that all “partners” involved with the safety advisory group had “agreed with the West Midlands police’s assessment that the match was high risk”.
It said: “In order to support public safety and reduce risk the SAG [safety advisory group] advised on options that would minimise significant public safety impacts, including no away fans attending. This advice was communicated to Aston Villa Football Club, and the club complied with SAG’s unanimous position.”