It’s simple. The police gave in to extremists in Birmingham

Let me take you through how this remarkable story unfolded. My involvement began on the October 20 when I was invited, as a member of the Birmingham Jewish community, to a meeting with senior police officers at their headquarters.

It was immediately apparent that the conciliatory tone I had been expecting was not going to materialise. Instead, the police peddled a series of lies to try and justify the banning of Jews. They tried to clothe their decision in niceties. Tried to tell us that the Maccabi fans were the problem. Tried to tell us that the police were looking out for our interests as Jews.

The opposite was in fact the case. The police gave into Islamist extremists in Birmingham. They did as they were told by those who thought they could get away with dictating how our City should operate. They were wrong.

The Birmingham Jewish community may be small in number, but we are not weak in determination. We are an essential part of the interwoven fabric which makes up the diverse tapestry of Birmingham and UK Jewry.

Put simply, we will not be pushed around. We make a large contribution to the city in all areas of life. The job of the police is to keep us all safe and to protect all football fans. Let me give you some precise examples of what the leadership of West Midlands police did. This is by no means a complete list of errors by the police as there are too many to mention in this piece.

They ignored official Amsterdam police reports detailing the violence committed by local pro-Palestinian mobs against the Israeli Maccabi fans and fabricated evidence to try to show that Maccabi supporters in fact committed the violence. This is a total inversion of the truth. The leadership of West Midlands police had a phone call with three officers from Amsterdam who apparently told him them the version blaming Maccabi fans. Amazingly, this phone call was not minuted or recorded and the account given not cross referenced. Yet this phone call alone is the basis of the police’s entire claim that Maccabi fans had to be banned due to their extreme violence.

When I was sitting in the Parliamentary Select Committee room this past Tuesday, I could not believe that Mr Guildford was still sticking to this obviously flawed argument. The committee were also pretty dumbfounded to say the least!

What I find even more troubling than these misrepresentations of facts is the contempt the leadership of West Midlands Police has shown for our community. When reaching any decision such as this, the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) have to consult with various stakeholders.

Naturally, one would assume that the local Jewish community were important people to consult when looking to ban all Israeli fans from a match in a largely unprecedented move. Not in the eyes of WMP. So much so that the first engagement they had with our community leadership was after the decision had been made to ban fans. Utterly disgraceful.

This is coupled with their ‘engagement’ with at least eight local Muslim groups before the decision was reached (see Mr Guildford’s letter to Dame Karen Bradley of December 19 2025). These included a Mosque which displayed an ISIS flag and another which had £2.2 million of government funding removed over hate speech.

When people have asked me over the last few weeks why I have committed so much time and effort to fighting this decision, it is this that I explain to them.

If we, as local Jews, allow our community to be walked over and held in utter contempt by the police, we have done ourselves a disservice. Not only that, but where does this end? Do we say that it is acceptable for Israeli artists and sportsmen to be banned? That it’s ok for police forces across our country to give into Islamist mobs in order to give themselves an easier life?

I will always answer no to these questions. Our freedoms as Jews are worth fighting for. This is exactly what we will continue to do. UK Jews all value the excellent support which bobbies on the beat provide to us and our communal buildings, even more so since the appalling rise in antisemitism since 7th October 2023.

But that is not enough. We must be treated with the respect our community deserves by the leadership of the police. The Jewish community in Birmingham is resilient. But let me tell you, we are angry. The almost unanimous feeling in the room at Lloyd House on 20 October last year was disbelief and visible disgrace. This has only increased as the evidence of misconduct has mounted up.

It was therefore not surprising to see the reports in the press this weekend that one of the very mosques who the police met with in the run up to the decision helped to appoint Mr Guildford to his role as Chief Constable.

There is no doubt in my mind, and the mind of community members, MPs and others, that his position is now untenable. The Chief Constable must now resign, along with his deputy Mr O’Hara. If they refuse to do so then either the Police and Crime Commissioner or the Home Secretary must use the powers they have and dismiss the two officers from their positions. This is the way to show that the Government truly stands behind Jews in this country.

Statements of support after the awful terrorist attacks we’ve witnessed are all well and good, but meaningless if the authorities are unwilling to act when they have the power to do so.

At a time when we’re seeing so much antisemitism go unchecked and Jews across the country feeling vulnerable, we must show that there are consequences for actions. Birmingham is a wonderful city with so much to offer as part of its warm Jewish community with the largest Jsoc in the country.

I urge the Chief Constable and his deputy to do the right thing and resign, so that we can draw a line under this appalling fiasco and start to rebuild the trust between the leadership of the police and Birmingham’s Jewish community.