Over 100 parliamentarians ask police watchdog to investigate Maccabi fan ban

— Ian Austin (@LordIanAustin) December 14, 2025

The group also expressed unease at WMP’s admission that their intelligence report, used to justify the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, contained reference to a football fixture that never happened between the Israeli team and East London-based West Ham United and what they called “distorted accounts of violence and antisemitic rioting”.

Last month, the JC was the first outlet to reveal that claims of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans’ hooliganism in Amsterdam during the team’s clash with local team Ajax were exaggerated to justify the ban.

This newspaper obtained the official “Statement of Facts” (Feitenrelaas), compiled by Amsterdam Police Chief Peter Holla and Chief Prosecutor René de Beukelaer and presented to the Amsterdam municipality, which stated that, ahead of the fixture, authorities in the Netherlands had noted that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans “do not have a violent reputation” and that the Israeli fans who were the target of “groups that are looking for a confrontation with Maccabi supporters” and, of the 59 arrests that were made, just 10 were Israeli and the remainder Dutch.

The MPs and peers made reference to the ongoing investigation into the decision-making by WMP by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

Last week, Sarah Jones, the policing minister, told Parliament that “by the end of the year” HMICFRS would provide an update on the intelligence gathered by WMP in advance of a wider review, to be presented next year, about “how forces in England and Wales provide risk assessment advice to local safety advisory groups and other bodies responsible for licensing high-profile public events”.

But the parliamentarians said that, in light of this, the IOPC had “no alternative but for your office to exercise its powers to investigate West Midlands Police's conduct, decision-making process, and its intelligence assessments in relation to its ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv's fans.”

“Faced with the serious charge of misleading Parliament, we do not have confidence in West Midlands Police's ability to investigate its own actions,” they continued, urging the IOPC “to consider initiating this procedure at the earliest opportunity”.

Earlier this month, WMP were forced to roll back on claims, made before Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee, that members of the Jewish community backed the ban on Maccabi fans.

In a letter to WMP by the committee’s chair Dame Karen Bradley, she said it was their “strong expectation” that senior officers appear before the MPs again in the new year to answer further questions.

Bradley also urged WMP to “clarify the remarks made by Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara that Jewish community representatives objected to the presence of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, something which we now understand to be untrue”.

She added: “Misleading Parliament, intentionally or otherwise, is a serious matter and we would be grateful if you would correct the record and explain how this mistake occurred.”