MP publishes full West Midlands police Maccabi Tel Aviv report
Nick Timothy asked if the police report was influenced by an group whose founder 'is a former Hezbollah fighter'
A Birmingham-born MP has published the full West Midlands police report behind the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from this month’s Aston Villa game, and has asked for confirmation as to whether an organisation whose founder has Hezbollah links influenced the creation of that report.
Nick Timothy, the Conservative MP for West Suffolk, who is an Aston Villa fan, has questioned the motivation of West Midlands police for their decision to ban Israeli fans, asking an Urgent Question in the House of Commons on the subject on Monday.
The full West Midlands police report, as released by Timothy, focuses on incidents which took place in Amsterdam in November 2024, when Maccabi Tel Aviv played Ajax in European competition. It makes the claim that “the day before the fixture saw approximately 500-600 Maccabi fans apparently intentionally targeting Muslim communities”. It also claimed that the fans had been “throwing innocent members of the public into the river”, and that there were “5,000 officers deployed over a number of days”.
That police report will have played a part in the decision Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG)—comprising the council, police, and other agencies—to bar Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.
Timothy has also released a full translation of the Amsterdam police’s subsequent investigation of what took place. As he has stated, “a report by the Dutch Justice and Security Inspectorate contradicted West Midlands Police. There was no deployment of 5,000 officers. No evidence that 500-600 fans ‘intentionally targeted Muslim communities.’ Nor of people ‘thrown into the river.’”
The MP went on to say that “the WMP intelligence report bears some resemblance to this ‘research’ report by the Hind Rajab Foundation. The Foundation claims it ‘laid the groundwork’ for the police. Its chairman, Dyab Abou Jahjah, is a former Hezbollah fighter.”
In 2006, after negative portrayals of Mohammed were published in Denmark, the Dutch branch of the Arab European League, then led by Jahjah, decided to publish cartoons which denied the Holocaust. At the time Jahjah, who is originally from Lebanon, said that “Yes, Arabs and Muslims are uptight when you touch their religious and national symbols, but Europe had made of political correctness and the cult of the Holocaust and Jew-worshiping its alternative religion and is even more uptight when you touch that.” He was subsequently banned from entering the UK in 2009.
Nick Timothy also pointed out that “Sebastiaan Meijer, a spokesman for Amsterdam police, called the claims of West Midlands Police in its intelligence report and public statements ‘not true’.
The West Sussex MP said that “the police are accused of fabricating evidence and lying about it. There are two possible explanations. 1. The police genuinely feared disorder, but wanted to blame Israelis and Jews – not the Islamist agitators and local thugs who hate Israel and Jews.
“2. The police felt political and social pressure from those who want to ban and boycott all things Israeli. That was the original demand of the local MP – a so-called Gaza Independent. And of at least two councillors on the Safety Advisory Group.”
Speaking to Jewish News yesterday, Keir Starmer said he was “concerned by some of the reports as to what material and intelligence was actually being relied on.”
The Prime Minister, who was visiting Bushey United Synagogue, went on to say that “There are clearly issues in relation to some of that reporting, some intelligence…I am troubled by what we’re all seeing emerging in relation to this particular case.”
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