Muslim antisemitism in the House of Commons ,
Even pro-Palestinian government ministers are calling it out.
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This is an expanded version of my column in today’s Times (£).
Away-fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv football club were banned last week from next month’s Birmingham match with Aston Villa because the police decided their attendance would present a risk to public safety.
By a remarkable coincidence, two days later fans rioted so violently in Tel Aviv during Maccabi’s match against Hapoel that the game was cancelled.
The Birmingham ban on the Maccabi fans provoked outrage even among some ministers in this Israel-hostile government because they viewed it as a clear act of antisemitism.
After the Tel Aviv riots, however, Ayoub Khan MP, who petitioned for the ban with his fellow independent MP (and former Labour party leader) Jeremy Corbyn on the basis that Maccabi fans were “violent” and “hooligans,” immediately claimed vindication. Other supporters of the ban piled onto social media to crow that the riots in the Tel Aviv stadium had shown how right it was to ban the Maccabi fans from Birmingham.
But local reports, including Israeli police observations, have suggested that the Tel Aviv violence was mostly caused by Hapoel fans. The Jerusalem Post has reported that the match was cancelled after fireworks were set off and flares were thrown from the Hapoel stands onto the pitch minutes before the players were to take the field.
In any event, the ban has precious little to do with with football hooligans. The Khan-Corbyn petition mentioned the Maccabi fans in just one paragraph.
The rest of it made clear that its real purpose was to turn the Maccabi team and Israel itself into pariahs. ...
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