Police officers secure an anti-Israel demonstration outside Villa Park in Birmingham (Getty Images)AFP via Getty Images
When one Birmingham council staff member said they had been “asked to obtain” information to pre-empt criticism or claims of “anti-Jewish sentiment”, the force only then produced new “intelligence” about Maccabi’s fanbase, according to documents seen by the Times.
The police then focused on the disorder that erupted in November 2024 when Maccabi played in Amsterdam.
In this new evidence, the force wrongly claimed that Israeli fans “randomly” threw innocent civilians into canals and that hundreds of fans linked to the IDF attacked “Muslim communities”, requiring thousands of police to be deployed.
Dutch police said these findings were untrue or misleading. In fact, the only known case of someone being thrown into a river related to a man who appeared to be a Maccabi Tel Aviv fan.
New paperwork now also reveals that the force downgraded the supposed threat posed to Israeli fans and increased its assessment of the threat posed to the Muslim community.
The “medium” threat initially said to be faced by Birmingham's Jewish community did not appear in the force’s final analysis.
Between the first meeting of the SAG meeting on October 7, 2025 and its final meeting on October 23, the threat Israeli fans faced was downgraded from “high” to “medium” and the threat to the Muslim community was upgraded from “medium” to “high”.
The documents also show that officials exaggerated the Dutch police response to disorder in Amsterdam from 1,200 officers to 5,000.
In the first set of minutes from the October 7 meeting of the SAG, West Midlands police said it would “prefer” a ban given the risk was on the “higher scale in terms of fixtures this year”. It referred to “some concerns” on fan behaviour given the “significant disorder” witnessed in Amsterdam.
According to the SAG chairman’s summary, the police verdict was made “in the absence of intelligence, based on conversations with peers and my professional judgment”.
These comments were redacted from documents released by Birmingham council under freedom of information law but appear in a leaked full version reported in the Times.
The only elected representatives present during the meeting were two councillors, Labour’s Waseem Zaffar and Liberal Democrat Mumtaz Hussain, who had already said they believed a ban was an adequate response to Israel’s actions in Gaza, which they claim is a genocide.
The SAG agreed that the “confidential discussion” on October 7 “must not be shared outside the SAG”.
The next day, Mike O’Hara, assistant chief constable, wrote to the SAG to “formally recommend” a review of the attendance of away fans, citing “current geopolitical tensions”.
On October 9, an official at Birmingham council wrote to West Midlands police highlighting “concern over a perception that our safety considerations may be wrongly considered as anti-Jewish sentiment”.
They said, “I know this isn’t the case, but if you could help me outline this issue and risk from your perspective that would be of great support and help dispel that feeling.”
A week and a half later, a meeting was held to sign off the decision to ban Maccabi fans, and West Midlands police claimed they had acquired “significant intelligence indicating potential for disorder”.
According to the minutes seen by the Times, a police representative present provided information about “notable unrest” in Amsterdam.
The council signed off on the decision. Published the same day, the move prompted high-profile condemnations from Sir Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch.
In response, a final SAG meeting was convened for October 23.
Protesters gather outside the Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv Europa League football match on November 06, 2025 in Birmingham, England. (Getty Images)Getty Images
As international controversy over the ban escalated, officials asked West Midlands police for the written intelligence that had justified the decision.
It was then that a document was released which included the allegations about Israeli fans targeting “Muslim communities” and the incorrect number of 5,000 Dutch police officers required to respond to unrest in Amsterdam.
Another difference in the released document was the assessment of the threat posed to Birmingham’s Jewish and Muslim communities.
The threat posed to Jews, previously characterised internally as “medium”, was not included in the new document and the threat to Israeli fans was downgraded from “high” to “medium”. Meanwhile, the threat to pro-Palestinian protesters was upgraded from “medium” to “high” and Muslims from “low” to “high”.
Writing in The Sunday Times, Tory MP Nick Timothy said the Maccabi ban was a “serious scandal” that led to questions about “whether we can trust the police to do their vital work without fear or favour, and who holds the power in modern, multicultural Britain.”
