Quote Originally Posted by Omegstrat6 View Post
The 2024 incident led to 60 arrests and 4 prison sentences. The mayor of Amsterdam cited a "toxic combination of anti-Semitism, hooliganism and anger" with police and prosecutors highlighting that some anti-Semitic Pro-Palestinian protesters "actively sought out" Israeli supporters. The UK Football Policing Unit have largely based their decision on discussions with the Dutch authorities involved and, given both the current inflammatory circumstances and lack of required police resources, I can understand that.

The riots in Amsterdam appear to have been largely driven by anti-Semitic factions and so I can understand those who say that the decision to ban Maccabi supporters on the grounds that the UK police would not be able to keep them safe is a shameful failure but, on the other hand, surely it is better to be realistic at this time to avoid potential conflicts?

The majority of Muslims in this country I am sure will vehemently disagree with what Netanyahu has done in both Gaza and the West Bank but I am equally pretty certain that the majority are not Islamic extremists supporting the likes of Hamas. Likewise, I'm pretty certain that if the British Jewish community were outraged by the heinous attack by Hamas, the majority would still not agree with Netanyahu's actions either in Gaza or Palestine.

Sadly though, this is not about the law abiding or more reasonable majorities but rather the intransigent minority factions on both sides. There will, I am sure, be minority factions within the "Pro-Palestinian" protesters here who will be actively anti-Semitic and there will also likely be amongst the Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters a minority who will be right wing Zionists.

Of course, in an ideal world the Israeli supporters should be allowed to watch their team but If the risk assessments carried out genuinely show that the match cannot be properly policed then surely it is the right decision?
Get your point Omeg and hope you are well. That said if you ban the Jewish supporters in a supposedly democratic country then there is only one winner. It?s interesting that one MP used one word to describe these football supporters and it was terrorists so you could imagine his ethnicity. It appears that our Home Secretary also knew of the decision a week ago and did nothing. The other side of the coin is the almost frequent mass protests in London which is a huge cost and results in police hurt, resources pulled and businesses damaged. Should these be stopped too? You can?t stop one without the other!

The other point is had Maccabi been playing in let?s say Leeds or Manchester I don?t feel there would have been the same uproar. Both these Cities have huge Jewish communities and they are far more law abiding than other ethnicities and us whites.