A BAN on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending a Europa League game at Aston Villa on November 6 has been at the top of the political and sporting news agendas for over a week.

The decision, made by a Birmingham City Council Safety Advisory Group incorporating the local police, the council, and emergency services, has, somewhat perplexingly, been met with a wave of opposition.

As the news broke, it seemed like a rare example of the police and authorities doing something right by football fans, but the move to prevent these racist and potentially violent hooligans from attending this match was opposed by many politicians, including the prime minister, and by many in the media.

The consensus seemed to be that banning racist football fans was wrong.

It beggars belief that so many politicians, commentators and columnists came out on the side of some of the most notoriously racist hooligans.

Even Maccabi Tel Aviv themselves admitted in a statement that parts of their fanbase pose a problem, and that they “have been working tirelessly to stamp out racism within the more extreme elements.”

They also pointed out that such issues are not limited to their club, which is true. There have been numerous away fan bans across Uefa in recent years for various issues, meaning Lisa Nandy’s comments in Parliament on Monday that the ban was “unprecedented” were incorrect.

That comment was one of many examples of a lack of knowledge and understanding on this issue from those making the loudest and most prominent statements on it.

Research published last week by Kick It Out Israel showed that racism is growing in Israeli football, and that Maccabi Tel Aviv are the main culprit, along with Beitar Jerusalem.

They found 367 instances of racist chanting during Israeli Premier League games last season, with Maccabi Tel Aviv (118) and Beitar Jerusalem (115) accounting for most of them.

The most common chant from these clubs’ fans was one supporting the genocide in Gaza: “Let the IDF win, f*** the Arabs.”

We covered the issue, including both of these far-right clubs, in this column last year following the trouble the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans caused in Amsterdam at a game against Ajax.

The evidence suggests that the racist elements of these clubs’ fanbases are getting worse rather than better.

After the announcement of the ban from the Villa game on October 16, a match the following Sunday between Maccabi Tel Aviv and local rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv was called off due to incidents outside and inside the ground ahead of kick off.

This was used as justification for the ban on Maccabi fans, and in many ways it was, as the increased police presence itself led to heightened tensions, as is often the case.

This derby has its own dynamic, though.

Hapoel, whose name translates to English as “the worker,” was originally owned by a trade union and has its origins in the trade union movement, socialism, anti-fascism, and even elements of Marxism–Leninism. Its club badge depicts a worker alongside a hammer and sickle.

They are an inclusive club that set up pathways for youth footballers from diverse backgrounds and from all faiths, including Arab, Druze, and Jewish players.

They are the polar opposite of Maccabi Tel Aviv, and would have jumped at the chance to blame them for the match being abandoned, but they didn’t.

Instead, Hapoel pointed out that the main cause of the trouble was the right-wing Israeli police.

“Even from the preliminary discussions for the match, it seemed that the police were preparing for a war, not a sporting event,” Hapoel Tel Aviv said in a statement.

“The shocking events outside the stadium and following the reckless and scandalous decision not to hold the match only demonstrate that the Israel Police has taken control of the sport.”

The police chief involved in the cancellation of this game, Haim Sargrof, is reportedly close to Israel’s far-right Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir. Hapoel’s opposition on this occasion was a police force that, like Maccabi, opposes their inclusive, socialist views.

“When the district commander, Haim Sargrof, was asked to speak with the League Management chairman, Erez Kalfon, and the Football Association chairman, Shino Zoaretz, he refused and stated that his decision was final,” added Hapoel in their statement.

“He spoke of numerous injuries from the throwing of pyrotechnic devices, but in reality, most of the injuries from the event were actually caused by the brutal police violence at the end of the match, as a direct result of the scandalous decision to cancel the event.”

Though you would think Hapoel would like to blame their fierce rivals, they attributed the cancellation of this match to the heavy-handedness and prejudice of the authorities, which is something football fans around the world are familiar with.

But in Birmingham, the local authorities have got it right, and the lack of support for them from the rest of the establishment, who are normally unanimously behind police decisions, was highly unusual.

Fans of other clubs, including English ones, have been banned from attending games for far less in recent years, and there hasn’t been a peep from politicians, but when one of the worst groups of fans from another country receive a ban, they are suddenly up in arms.

It’s dangerous political posturing that could have serious consequences for communities in Birmingham and the surrounding area were the ban overturned.

A report in the Guardian last week revealed that police intelligence sources were told by Dutch police that the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans instigated the trouble around the Ajax game last year, and “had randomly picked Muslims in Amsterdam to attack.”

Police intelligence also found that a large number of the more extreme elements of the Maccabi Tel Aviv fanbase were expected to arrive in Birmingham for the game.

Some Jewish members of the local community who were consulted by West Midlands police also wanted the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans to be banned.

In Amsterdam, the trouble caused by the Maccabi fans spread throughout the city and was not limited to the vicinity of the football match.

Birmingham has the largest Muslim population in England and is home to a large number of British Arabs, so you would think the decision by the authorities to ban a group of racists who specifically target Arabs and Muslims would be uncontroversial. But no.

Eventually, Maccabi Tel Aviv said that they would decline any ticket allocation anyway, as the club predicted a potential backlash against their own fans if the ban were reversed.

Some reacting to the ban have called it anti-semitic or anti-Israeli, but lumping all Israeli football fans in with the extreme elements of the Maccabi Tel Aviv support, to whom this ban specifically applies, is itself an insult to Israeli football fans.

It’s not a ban based on nationality or religion, but one based on a judgement of a single club’s fans’ previous conduct.

As the Guardian report stated, “the process did not consider whether the ban on fans of the Israeli club could be criticised as anti-semitic itself or surrendering to anti-semitism.”

This is also why blanket bans on entire nations and their clubs and athletes from competing in sport are not necessarily a solution either, but the ban on Russia and not Israel remains a double standard by those enforcing it.

Incidents of racism and discrimination are on the rise throughout football, as in society, as racists become emboldened by right-wing political parties and a mainstream media that often leaves racism unopposed, and in some cases encourages it. Whereas before they might have muttered under their breath, they now shout.

Anyone found hurling racist abuse at a game will be banned, and fans from other teams across Europe have been banned from attending away games for various reasons for years, so a ban being handed out to a set of extremely racist fans should not be contentious, but it has been.

Politicians have irresponsibly used the issue to play their own game and, had they got their way, it’s one that could have had serious consequences in Birmingham communities.