A British police force used false intelligence to secure a ban on Israeli fans attending an away game in Birmingham this month, according to Dutch law enforcement.
West Midlands police concluded it was “high risk” for Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters to go to a Europa League game at Aston Villa on November 6, leading the local authority to recommend they be banned.
In a confidential report setting out its justification, the force detailed violence when Tel Aviv played Ajax in Amsterdam last year, claiming that Israeli fans threw “innocent members of the public into the river”, that between 500 and 600 “intentionally targeted Muslim communities” and that 5,000 police officers were deployed in response.
The national police force of the Netherlands has said the claims were incorrect. Sebastiaan Meijer, a spokesman for the Amsterdam division, said he was “surprised” by other allegations, including one that 200 travelling Maccabi fans were “linked” to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). He said his force would never have had such intelligence and that Israel had a policy of conscription, making the claim meaningless.
Of the finding that the Israelis were “highly organised, skilled fighters with a serious desire and will to fight with police and opposing groups”, he said: “Amsterdam police does not recognise the claim.” West Midlands police had attributed it to Dutch law enforcement.
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