THE TIMES
We can’t let this bigotry become the norm
Melanie Phillips
October 20, 2025

Away fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv football club were banned last week from their team’s match against Aston Villa in November because the police decided their attendance would present a risk to public safety. By a remarkable coincidence, on Sunday 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 as an act of antisemitism…Like those hate marches, the Maccabi ban is part of the same strategy of demonising Israel as the most evil country in the world, and driving Israelis out of public life by misrepresenting their war of defence against genocidal attack as itself a “genocide”. One particularly troubling aspect is that Ayoub Khan MP and other MPs supporting the ban are injecting sectarian Islamic politics and incitement against Israel into the heart of British democracy. READ MORE

THE ATHLETIC Maccabi Tel Aviv to decline Aston Villa ticket allocation after fan ban Maccabi Tel Aviv will decline any ticket allocation for their Europa League tie against Aston Villa after supporters were banned from attending due to safety concerns. The Athletic revealed on Thursday that West Midlands Police (WMP) had requested supporters of the Israeli football club be prevented from buying tickets to November’s match at Villa Park. Villa later confirmed this would be the case, citing “a number of physical and safety factors”.