West Midlands Police leadership have been called for a second time before the Home Affairs Committee to answer questions on the scandal-ridden ban on fans from Maccabi Tel Aviv last year at a game with Aston Villa. An unprecedented second visit to committee after “clarifications” were made about evidence given at the first…
Craig Guildford, Chief Constable at West Midlands Police, said he stands by the dodgy evidence produced to justify the ban: “I do stand by what was said. It was said on the basis of the information given to us.” He said it was “absolutely not the case” that police officers were “scrubbing” the internet for an excuse to ban Maccabi fans. He said “the mistake that was made in terms of the West Ham, was one individual doing one Google search because he couldn’t find the reference because there wasn’t one in the system.” That refers to a mistake in the police intelligence report regarding match between Maccabi and West Ham – which had never even happened…
Leaked documents showed that police made the ban decision “in the absence of intelligence” and authorities were only “asked to obtain” substantive material post-decision in anticipation of allegations of “anti-Jewish sentiment.” They settled on reports from Amsterdam about Maccabi fans which was proved to be false and which Netherlands police insisted was not provided by them…
The government’s antisemitism adviser Lord Mann alleges there is a “campaign by organised extremists to target and remove Jewish people and their perceived allies from football.” After a first visit to committee West Midlands Police has also been forced to clarify that it did not receive encouragement from local Jewish community groups/figures to ban the Maccabi fans. There are mounting calls for Guildford to resign…
