West Midlands Police is facing growing scrutiny over the information used to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from Aston Villa, with counterparts in Amsterdam disputing the evidence it provided on high-profile incidents involving the Israeli club’s fan base.
The ban was imposed after the force in Birmingham concluded that the visit of Maccabi was too “high risk” to allow visiting fans amid inflamed community tensions over the Gaza war.
And the decision will be challenged by the Home Affairs Select Committee on Monday when leaders from the force are questioned by MPs.
It comes as Sky News can reveal officers only classified Thursday’s Europa League match between Aston Villa and BSC Young Boys as “medium risk” despite three UEFA disciplinary cases against the Swiss club since 2023 for fan unrest, including partial stadium bans being imposed.
And some of those Young Boys fans then fought with police and a Villa player was left bloodied by a plastic cup being thrown.
West Midlands Police has not explained in any more detail about the lower classification for the Young Boys match.
While Maccabi has not been hit with any UEFA disciplinary cases recently for hooliganism, the club’s Europa League game at Ajax in November 2024 raised concerns in Birmingham about the ability to allow Israeli fans.
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Understanding it means going back to November 2024 – and the days of disorder around Maccabi’s Europa League match against Ajax.
It’s this incident that had to be assessed by authorities in England when deciding how to police Maccabi’s visit to Villa this month.
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But the accuracy of this assessment has been called into question.
Sky News has heard in depth from Dutch police about what they told officers in England about the threat posed by the Israeli supporters in a video call at the start of October.
What’s not doubted by the police or indeed Maccabi is that Israeli ultras – more violent fans – were involved in attacks and anti-Palestinian chants in Amsterdam. They armed themselves with belts and padlocks, attacking taxis and scooter-riders.
Contradictions in police accounts
But there are some apparent contradictions between the accounts of the two forces.
In dispute are elements of a document produced by West Midlands Police to justify advice to Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group, which has been leaked.
It effectively set out why Maccabi fans were deemed too dangerous to be allowed into Villa.
A key claim from West Midlands Police is that 500 to 600 Maccabi fans apparently intentionally targeted Muslim communities in Amsterdam. Amsterdam police says there were 500 to 800 high-risk Maccabi supporters.
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Muslims ‘not targeted’ by visiting fans
But the force told me: “We did not see large groups of Maccabi’s (fans) going into Muslim populated areas to target Muslims.”
Asked to clarify, it added: “Provocations came from both sides. This all happened in the city centre. That’s not the same as a large group (of) Maccabi (fans) going into a Muslim populated area to target Muslims.”
Amsterdam police also made no reference in a detailed timeline provided to us of the notable claim by West Midlands Police that Maccabi fans threw “innocent members of the public into the river”.
The five people convicted in Amsterdam were all for violence against Israelis.
It is not clear why no Israeli fans were prosecuted, given that the Amsterdam police cited in detail attacks by them.
The Amsterdam police and the West Midlands Police spoke during a video meeting in the first week of October.
The subject of the conversation was the risk of having Maccabi supporters visiting the city of Birmingham for a European football match.
The Amsterdam police made clear that among Maccabi supporters there were 500-800 ultras visiting the city in November 2024.
Like other European ultra groups, these fans were organised and, on some occasions, seemed willing to fight.
The Amsterdam police also stated that a lot of disorder in those days were the result of different groups provoking each other.
‘Offensive, racist expressions’
“Compared to other European high-risk football supporters, Amsterdam police makes the assessment that the Maccabi supporters were quite self-confident and were not afraid – neither of opponents, nor of the police,” the timeline provided to us said.
It goes on to highlight “offensive, racist expressions” in Hebrew shouted by Maccabi fans.
It turns to the situation towards the city centre after the match.
Referencing “Maccabi Tel Aviv rioters”, it says: “Along the way, they equip themselves with materials such as metal rods and stones. Stones are also thrown at taxis.
“At the same time, another development takes place: small groups of pro-Palestinian rioters actively search for individuals they perceive as Israeli, Jewish or Maccabi supporters. At 23.55pm, the first ‘flash’ attacks on Maccabi supporters begin at Dam Square.
“Several dozen violent incidents in the city centre follow. The pro-Palestinian rioters use various methods to reach their victims: some move on foot; others use scooters or taxis to move quickly through the city.
“This makes it difficult for the police to intervene quickly and effectively. This proves to be a fundamentally different form of violence compared to earlier situations, which involved clashes between groups facing each other.
“From 1.24am onward, reports of attacks decrease, but fear among Jewish residents of Amsterdam and Israeli tourists remains high. Multiple reports come in of people feeling unsafe and not daring to leave their hotels.”
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A West Midlands Police document does say there was evidence of “incitement to attack Jewish fans”, but they largely overlook what officers in Amsterdam said was the threat posed to the Maccabi contingent.
The force had to assess the resources needed for the match.
It claims 5,000 officers had to be deployed in Amsterdam. But the Dutch police confirmed to us there were only 1,200 police deployed.
It’s raising new questions for the Aston Villa-supporting Tory MP Nick Timothy – a former Home Office special adviser – about the characterisation of Maccabi fans.
“This isn’t just about a football match,” Mr Timothy told Sky News. “This isn’t just about the rights of the Israeli supporters to come to Britain and watch their team. This is about whether we can trust the police to do their job without fear or favour, as the police oath requires them to do. And whether we can trust them to tell us the truth.
“They’ve presented an intelligence report that they say is based on information provided by the Dutch. The Dutch say that that information is not true”.
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West Midlands Police said in a statement it is “satisfied in the veracity of our information and intelligence, which put public safety at the heart of our decision-making.
“We will be giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on Monday 1 December and therefore it would be inappropriate to make further comment at this time.”
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The only time the force has so far explained the decision on camera was in an interview with me on the day of the Villa match when Chief Superintendent Tom Joyce highlighted “quite significant levels of hooliganism” among Maccabi fans.
He said banning supporters is not a “precedent but it’s one we would use rarely, clearly”.
Few policing decisions have been as contentious, as scrutinised this year, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer this week expressing fresh concern about the evidence used to ban by officers.
