The Home Affairs Select Committee have been, interrogating isn’t too strong a word, the senior officers of the West Midlands police this week over theidecision to ban the visiting football fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv last year.
From GB News (thanks to RH) and the Express
West Midlands Police is under fire after a Home Affairs Select Committee scrutinised its chief constable over the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending their Europa League clash against Aston Villa.
In a testing appearance before MPs, the force’s most senior figures sought to justify the decision, which sparked political uproar. Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara insisted the decision was “based on safety” and that “there was no conspiracy”.
Assistant Chief Constable O’Hara denied that West Midlands Police had focused solely on intelligence from their Dutch counterparts, saying there had been a “huge degree of consternation” within the local community about a potentially large presence of Maccabi fans.
Dutch police disputed information published in a report by the force detailing how it reached its decision.
He said: “There was a lot of intelligence suggesting people would actively seek out Maccabi fans and pursue violence towards them. There was a range of options available. The particular challenge was that the Maccabi fans would target the community. This was all forming part of the heat of the situation.”
Tory MP and former Home Office special adviser Nick Timothy criticised the police, saying: “The mob said Israeli fans aren’t welcome, and the police chose appeasement — and we all know where that ends.” He said senior officers were guilty of “lying” as they attempted to explain their actions and their failure to confront “extreme elements in the communities they are supposed to police”.
The documents also show that the police assessment was amended late in the process to present a high risk to local people, while the risk to Maccabi fans was downgraded.
West Midlands Police initially claimed away fans could not attend because of hooliganism fears, with 500 “hardcore Maccabi supporters” who were “very well organised, uncooperative and militaristic” accused of carrying out “indiscriminate attacks on Muslim taxi drivers, flag burning, marches and Islamophobic chanting”.
But, in a bombshell report published on Tuesday, West Midlands Police admitted it actually feared locals were plotting to attack Israeli supporters, with some even preparing to carry weapons.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch declared: “West Midlands Police capitulated to Islamists and then collaborated with them to cover it up. They knew extremists were planning to attack Jews for going to a football match, and their response was to blame and remove Jewish people instead. They presented an inversion of reality and misled a parliamentary committee.
(She) also said West Midlands Police “collaborated with them to cover it up” as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood faced growing calls to sack Chief Constable Craig Guildford.
Dame Karen Bradley, the Conservative who chaired the committee, accused the police of “scraping” for justification to ban Israelis from attending the game.
Former Home Office adviser Nick Timothy, who is also an MP from the West Midlands and supports Aston Villa, said: “What was left of the credibility of West Midlands Police has been destroyed today. We learned earlier that their initial reason for banning Israelis from Villa Park was the danger to away fans from ‘armed’ locals.
“But to justify the ban they portrayed the Israelis as “uniquely violent” and military-trained. They used “intelligence” supposedly from Dutch police that has been utterly repudiated – by the Dutch police and other authorities.
“And when the Home Affairs Select Committee asked why the vital information about the danger to Israelis was kept secret, the Chief Constable ludicrously said it was because he had not been asked for it.
“In other words: ‘We won’t tell you the truth because you didn’t ask a specific question about a thing you didn’t know because we hadn’t told you.’
“Yes. That was his defence.
“He is too arrogant to resign. The Home Secretary has the power to remove him under Section 40 of the Police Act 1996. She should use it.” Video here
It isn’t over either
Israel has accused UK police chiefs of allowing antisemitism, hatred and hostility towards Israeli and Jewish communities to be “normalised under the rule of law”. Diplomats blasted Craig Guildford, the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, for his disastrous admission that the force sat on key pieces of intelligence ahead of the Aston Villa vs Maccabi Tel Aviv football match.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said: “The revelations concerning the conduct of the West Midlands Police toward Maccabi fans are utterly disgraceful. There is a specific term for the phenomenon of scapegoating Israelis and Jews while exonerating the true perpetrators – jihadists seeking to harm Jews. It is called antisemitism. Regrettably, this is the reality of Britain today. There must be action and accountability for such actions.”
The Israeli Embassy in London declared: “The portrayal of Israeli fans as violent was a gross mischaracterisation that served the needs of those actively inciting against an Israeli team. This framing diverted attention away from credible intelligence warnings regarding extremist elements preparing to target Israeli and Jewish Maccabi supporters, and instead placed blame on the very community that was facing the threat. . . These matters require full accountability.”
The Board of Deputies call for his resignation
And this is the conclusion of a very good article in The Times
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Nuts…
Even if the more worldly would have suspected, this revelation is very much in the train of thought that removes counter-protestors from areas adjacent to the British anti-Israel hate marches when counter protestors were merely stating the obvious – that Hamas are terrorists. It is a good example of the current amorality of the police – and other Western authorities – which ironically only serves to appease extremists and encourage further trouble.