West Midlands Police capitulated to antisemitism – a former Met officer’s verdict

Having just watched officers from West Midlands Police give evidence for the second time to the Home Affairs Committee I have come to the conclusion that the police have forgotten their place. They have lost their way.

Sounding suitably virtuous, the Chief Constable, the National Lead for Football Policing, and their subordinates repeatedly claimed that “public safety” was the guiding principle behind their decision-making. But this was not a response to a natural disaster or some unforeseeable emergency. West Midlands Police were retreating from risks they had themselves anticipated – leaving an unavoidable question: why?

The law establishes that “the core responsibility of the police service is to protect the public by detecting and preventing crime.” You do not achieve that by restricting the lawful behaviour of the public but by making crime as difficult as possible, and holding criminals to account. Otherwise, lock us up, feed us some chow, make sure we do some exercise, and job done.

At both hearings, West Midlands Police claimed that the behaviour of the Maccabi supporters in Amsterdam 2024 was the primary reason for the ban. But the account provided by the police was at complete odds with that of the Dutch authorities and the actual “Jew hunt” that occurred in the Dutch capital.

The police denied that any political pressure played a role in the Maccabi ban. However, it became clear on examination that the police used information from mosques with a clear history of antisemitism. The police met with a local MP who gained his seat on a sectarian Gaza ticket and who started a petition to ban the Israeli team on “moral” grounds.

These were but a few of the issues revealed during the committee hearing and media investigations. But for a Jewish ex-police officer it is the integrity of the police that is central to the issue, the idea of policing without fear or favour. Following the Hillsborough enquiry a “duty of candour” was introduced into the Code of Ethics for policing. That’s because transparency and accountability are key to public confidence in the thin blue line of brave officers who stand between civilised society and chaos.

It was Peter Prinsley MP who demonstrated beyond doubt that this duty had been thoroughly ignored by these police leaders. He provided damning information to the committee, reading out details of a high confidence police intelligence report from September 5, 2025 that indicated that members of the local community would arm themselves against the Maccabi fans.

This information was not provided to the committee by the police but was instead first revealed by The Times. More damning still, when asked why it had not been shared, the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, Craig Guildford, said the detail had not been disclosed because the committee had not specifically asked for it. That explanation prompted an incredulous response from Joani Reid MP, who called it “absolutely outrageous”.

The duty of candour required the police to place all relevant information before the committee to assist its understanding of the decision to ban Maccabi fans. That information was also absent from documents submitted to the Safety Advisory Group, which ultimately decided that away supporters would not be permitted to attend. The thrust of the report was that the local community was supposedly at risk of being targeted by Maccabi fans – not that Maccabi fans themselves faced attack by marauding vigilantes.

The answer to why West Midlands Police retreated from risks they themselves identified is simple: cowardice and a lack of integrity.

Cowardice, because they were unwilling to confront the antisemitic elements within the community they police. Community engagement matters – but it is not an end in itself. Community cohesion is the goal, and cohesion is impossible if the police will not stand firmly against racism in all its forms.

The signs I saw tied to lampposts across Aston did not say “Maccabi not welcome”; they said “Zionists not welcome”. That message was unmistakable. It meant that I, a Brit and a Jew who believed in the right of Jewish self-determination in their homeland, was not welcome in Aston. The police failed me by doing nothing to make clear that such racism would not be tolerated on the streets.

Integrity, too, was absent. West Midlands Police refused to name the real problem: antisemitism. How can the public – or government – understand the nature of the problem if the police capitulate to local racists rather than confront them? Integrity demands exposure, not evasion.

That is why the officers who appeared before the committee were a failure. Their lack of courage and integrity renders them unfit to safeguard the communities of Birmingham. In my view, the position of Chief Constable Craig Guildford and Assistant Chief Constable Mike O'Hara has become untenable. Their performance at the hearing – at times openly contemptuous of MPs – revealed a profound lack of insight into both the seriousness of the problem and the responsibilities of their office.

I did not go to the Aston Villa–Maccabi Tel Aviv game to watch football. I went to stand with others who understood that confronting hatred is a shared responsibility. You defeat it by exposing it, not by retreating from it. That was the spirit we shared as we travelled to Aston, and it was why our anxious friends and families nevertheless supported our decision to go, despite their fears.

Gill Levy is a former Metropolitan Police officer