LONDON: The Palestine Solidarity Campaign has welcomed the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from attending their upcoming UEFA Europa League match at Aston Villa but says the fixture itself should be canceled.
In a statement issued on Friday, PSC said the ban should be understood in the context of what it described as the club’s “track record of committing racist violence” in cities hosting their games, as well as Maccabi Tel Aviv’s alleged involvement in Israel’s apartheid system.
The campaign group pointed to chants reportedly used by some Maccabi fans, including: “Why is school out in Gaza? There are no children left there,” referencing the deaths of Palestinian children in the conflict.
PSC argued that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s criticism of the fan ban shows “he expects Birmingham residents to tolerate racist incitement and expects police to provide cover for it,” adding that this reflects “blatant anti-Palestinian racism.”
The group also cited previous incidents of violence involving Maccabi supporters, including clashes in Amsterdam last season, where fans attacked residents and attempted to assault a taxi driver.
PSC said the club has further “directly involved itself in Israel’s atrocities,” including sending care packages to Israeli soldiers and producing videos of employees serving in the military as motivation before matches.
“Starmer’s willingness to conflate opposition to Israel’s crimes with antisemitism has now taken him to a place where he defends, supposedly in the name of antiracism, the rights of avowedly anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic, violent thugs to demonstrate their hate in a British city and at a football match,” Ben Jamal, PSC director, said.
“The Maccabi fan base has an egregious track record of racist violence that led them to being banned from the city of Amsterdam. Starmer wants Birmingham to host people who chant for Palestinians to be raped and their villages burned. The fixture should not be going ahead. Israel and all Israeli clubs should be removed from international competitions,” he added.
PSC said allowing Israeli football teams to compete in international competitions “sanitizes Israel’s horrific atrocities against Palestinians” and argued that the Israel Football Association includes clubs based in settlements on land taken from Palestinians.
The group said international sporting bodies should follow the precedent set during apartheid South Africa and ban Israeli teams from competitions.
