An Islamist preacher in Birmingham was threatening the Israeli fans, which led to the ban.
By Rachel Avraham
Britain’s government is doing everything in its power to make sure travelling fans of soccer club Maccabi Tel Aviv can attend a match in Birmingham next month, interior minister Shabana Mahmood said on Friday, after an earlier ban, Reuters reported. “Antisemitism is a stain on our society that shames us all. Every football fan, whoever they are, should be able to watch their team in safety,” Mahmood said on X on Friday. “This Government is doing everything in our power to ensure all fans can safely attend the game.”
A spokesperson for the government said earlier in a statement on Friday that it was working with the police “to ensure this game can safely go ahead, with all fans present”. Reuters reported that English soccer club Aston Villa said supporters of Israeli side Maccabi would be barred from the Europa League match on November 6 after West Midlands police expressed concerns about potential protests outside the stadium. According to the report, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar described the announcement as “shameful”.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer posted on X that it was “the wrong decision. We will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets,” he wrote. “The role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation.” According to Reuters, Culture minister Lisa Nandy was due to meet interior ministry officials to seek a “way through” the ban, an official told Sky News on Friday.
According to MEMRI, “On October 1, 2025, extremist Islamic scholar Asrar Rashid, who is based in Birmingham, UK, delivered a lecture in Amsterdam, posted on his YouTube channel, in which he commented on an upcoming soccer match between Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and Aston Villa in Birmingham. He stated that “when the [Maccabi] Tel Aviv fans come to [play Aston Villa] in Birmingham in a few weeks, we will not show them mercy in Birmingham.” The Daily Mail cited MEMRI and its clip of Rashid in an article published today highlighting the preacher’s history of inciting and antisemitic statements as the upcoming soccer match made headlines due to the banning of Israeli fans from attendance.”
MEMRI added, “MEMRI TV has documented Rashid’s extremist, antisemitic, and pro-jihad statements since 2017. This past July, he said at a pro-Palestine march: “We take up armed struggle and we are not ashamed of it. We have Jihad in our Quran, and Jihad is standing up against oppression. What the Palestinian people are doing today is armed struggle, is to stand up to the bankers’ state, which is known as Israel.” In a workshop for imam and activists the same month, he argued that calling “Jews in Tel Aviv” must choose between leaving or paying the Islamically-mandated jizya poll tax, levied on Jews and Christians who live under Muslim rule. Rashid has repeatedly espoused antisemitic and anti-Western conspiracy theories, claiming Talmudic teachings dictate establishing “Jewish supremacism” and a “super Jewish state”, that “Hitler did Jews a favor” and that Jews “held all the politicians in their pockets after World War II, and that Al-Qaeda was created by the CIA. He also described education on LGBT issues as a “Chinese-communist-Mao-Zedong-style brainwashing program”.”
Responding to MEMRI TV’s clip of his statements, Rashid posted on X: “I stand by the fact that IDF are shameless murderous foul beings. Here is the full clip to what I said regarding IDF soldiers visiting Birmingham at the Aston Villah Stadium. A clip posted by the Mossad MEMRI TV. Typical Judeo-Christian Zionist propaganda in action.”
Photo from Football.ua: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maccabi_Tel_Aviv_F.C.#/media/File:Maccabi_Tel-Aviv_against_Dynamo_Kiev2.jpeg
