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UK Authorities Call for ‘Immediate Review’ of Local Ban on Israeli Soccer Fans Amid Government Outrage
Soccer Football – UEFA Europa League – Maccabi Tel Aviv v GNK Dinamo Zagreb – TSC Arena, Topola, Serbia – Oct. 2, 2025, Maccabi Tel Aviv players pose for a team group photo before the match. Photo: REUTERS/Zorana Jevtic
The police and crime commissioner of the West Midlands Police (WMP) force in the United Kingdom has called for an “immediate review” of a decision to ban fans of the Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv from attending the club’s UEFA Europa League game against Aston Villa next month following outrage from British government officials.
Simon Foster said he is requesting an urgent reassessment of the decision, made by Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG), to determine “whether or not this decision and recommendation is appropriate, necessary, justified, reasonable, and a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim,” which is to ensure the safety and security of those attending the match on Nov. 6 at Villa Park in Birmingham. “That must include consideration, of all and any suitable, alternative options,” he added.
Foster concluded by saying that any decision or recommendation about the Nov. 6 match is ultimately a matter for the SAG to determine alongside the “independent, objective, and impartial operational policing judgement” of WMP.
Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans will not be allowed to attend the match at Villa Park in Birmingham because of security concerns, and the move has drawn condemnation from government officials in Israel and the UK, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“This is the wrong decision. We will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets,” Starmer wrote on X. “The role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation.”
Aston Villa said on Thursday that the decision was made by the SAG, a body comprised of several professional authorities responsible for issuing safety certificates for events at Villa Park. The SAG informed the club and UEFA that no away fans would be allowed to attend the game, the team noted.
“Following a meeting this afternoon, the SAG have formally written to the club and [European soccer body] UEFA to advise no away fans will be permitted to attend Villa Park for this fixture,” Aston Villa said in a statement. “West Midlands Police have advised the SAG that they have public safety concerns outside the stadium bowl and the ability to deal with any potential protests on the night.”
The team added that it was in “continuous dialogue with Maccabi Tel Aviv and the local authorities throughout this ongoing process, with the safety of supporters attending the match and the safety of local residents at the forefront of any decision.”
West Midlands Police said on Thursday it supports the SAG’s decision, and that police classified the match as “high risk” after “a thorough assessment.”
“This decision is based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crime offenses that occurred during the 2024 UEFA Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam,” the police force said in a released statement. “Based on our professional judgement, we believe this measure will help mitigate risks to public safety.”
A spokesperson for Downing Street said there are talks “at pace, across government” to resolve the issue regarding the ban against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.
“Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is meeting officials to discuss what more can be done to try and find a way through to resolve this, and what more can be done to allow fans to attend the game safely,” the spokesperson said, as cited by the BBC. “The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Local Government, Steve Reed, spoke to the local council this morning, and the Home Office is urgently working to support police to try and find a way through this.”
The UK’s Conservative Party Leader Kemi Badenoch said the ban was a “national disgrace” and called on Starmer to “guarantee that Jewish fans can walk into any football stadium in this country.” Conservative MP Matt Vickers criticized the move as “utterly outrageous” while MP for the Liberal Democrat party Ed Davey demanded that the ban be reversed “as soon as possible” and said, “It’s completely wrong to tackle antisemitism by banning its victims.” Reform UK leader and MP Nigel Farage wrote on X: “This takes racial discrimination to a whole new level.”
The British nongovernmental organization Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) told the Birmingham City Council and West Midlands Police that it intends to bring a judicial review over the decision. “Our lawyers are writing to the council and police in accordance with the pre-action protocol for judicial review,” CAA wrote in a statement on X. “Police forces and local councils must do whatever it takes to ensure that Britain is safe for everyone … We will do whatever it takes to overturn this pernicious ban which has humiliated and angered the whole country.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar described the ban as a “shameful decision” and called on UK officials to reverse the “coward” move against Israeli soccer fans.
Ian Austin, the UK’s trade envoy to Israel, said he was “appalled” by the ban and called on police to review the decision.
“It looks like they have capitulated to a campaign by trouble-makers and abdicated their responsibility to ensure people can go about their lawful business safely,” he said. “Birmingham is a great international city. It welcomes visitors from all over the world, and they must be able to come in safely. International sport is one of our most important exports and this has major implications for fixtures in the future.”
In November 2024, Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were violently attacked by fans of the Dutch soccer team Ajax followed a European League match between the two teams in Amsterdam. During the premeditated and coordinated violence, Maccabi fans were chased with knives and sticks in the streets, run over by cars, physically beaten, and forced by their attackers to say, “Free Palestine.” Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema called the attackers “antisemitic hit-and-run squads” who went “Jew hunting.”
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Hezbollah Says Ceasefire ‘Meaningless’ as Fighting Continues in South
Israeli military vehicles and soldiers in a village in southern Lebanon as the Israeli army operates in it as seen from the Israeli side of the border, April 23, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Ayal Margolin
Lebanon’s Hezbollah said a US-mediated ceasefire in the war with Israel was meaningless a day after it was extended for three weeks, as Lebanese authorities reported two people killed by an Israeli strike and Hezbollah downed an Israeli drone.
US President Donald Trump announced the three-week extension on Thursday after hosting Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors at the White House. The ceasefire agreement between the governments of Lebanon and Israel had been due to expire on Sunday.
While the ceasefire has led to a significant reduction in hostilities, Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have continued to trade blows in southern Lebanon, where Israel has kept soldiers in a self-declared “buffer zone.”
Responding to the extension, Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad said “it is essential to point out that the ceasefire is meaningless in light of Israel’s insistence on hostile acts, including assassinations, shelling, and gunfire” and its demolition of villages and towns in the south.
“Every Israeli attack… gives the resistance the right to a proportionate response,” he added.
Hezbollah is not a party to the ceasefire agreement, and has strongly objected to Lebanon’s face-to-face contacts with Israel.
BUFFER ZONE
The April 16 agreement does not require Israeli troops to withdraw from the belt of southern Lebanon seized during the war. The zone extends 5 to 10 km (3 to 6 miles) into Lebanon.
Israel says the buffer zone aims to protect northern Israel from attacks by Hezbollah, which fired hundreds of rockets at Israel during the war.
Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2, when the group opened fire in support of Iran in the regional war. The ceasefire in Lebanon emerged separately from Washington’s efforts to resolve its conflict with Tehran, though Iran had called for Lebanon to be included in any broader truce.
Nearly 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since March 2, the Lebanese health ministry says.
ISRAELI MILITARY WARNS RESIDENTS TO LEAVE TOWN
Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli airstrike killed two people in the southern village of Touline on Friday.
Hezbollah shot down an Israeli drone, the group and the Israeli military said. Hezbollah identified it as a Hermes 450 and said it had downed it with a surface-to-air missile.
An Israeli drone was heard circling above Beirut throughout the day on Friday, Reuters reporters said.
The Israeli military warned residents of the southern town of Deir Aames to leave their homes immediately, saying it planned to act against “Hezbollah activities” there.
Deir Aames is located north of the area occupied by Israeli forces, and it was the first time Israel had issued such a warning since the ceasefire came into force on April 16. Posted on social media, the Israeli warning gave no details of the activities it said Hezbollah was conducting in the town.
The Israeli military also said it had intercepted a drone prior to its crossing into Israeli territory, and that sirens were sounded in line with protocol.
WAR-WEARY RESIDENTS SEEK END TO FIGHTING
The continued fighting has angered war-weary Lebanese, who say they want to see a genuine ceasefire put a full halt to violence.
“What’s this? Is this called a ceasefire? Or is this mocking (people’s) intelligence?” said Naem Saleh, a 73-year-old owner of a newsstand in Beirut.
Residents of northern Israel had mostly returned to daily life, but expressed pessimism about the longevity of the ceasefire with Lebanon.
“I believe that the ceasefire is so fragile, and unfortunately it won’t stand long, in my opinion,” said Eliad Eini, a resident of Nahariya, which lies just 10 km (6 miles) from the border with Lebanon.
On Wednesday, Israeli strikes killed at least five people in the south, including a journalist.
Israel’s Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter, in his opening remarks at Thursday’s talks, said “Lebanon should acknowledge the temporary presence of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and the right of Israel to defend itself from a hostile force that is firing on the population.”
Lebanon’s Ambassador to the United States Nada Moawad, in a written statement sent to Reuters, called for the ceasefire to be fully respected and said it would allow the necessary conditions for meaningful negotiations.
Lebanon has said it aims to secure the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from its territory in broader talks with Israel at a later stage.
Trump said on Thursday that he looked forward to hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the near future, and said there was “a great chance” the two countries would reach a peace agreement this year.
Hezbollah attacks killed two civilians in Israel after March 2, while 15 Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon since then, Israel says.
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Only Five Ships Pass Through Strait of Hormuz in 24 hours
FILE PHOTO: A map showing the Strait of Hormuz is seen in this illustration taken March 23, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Only five ships, including one Iranian oil products tanker, have passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, Friday shipping data showed, after Iran seized two container ships this week and the US continues to blockade Iranian ports.
Shipping traffic passing through the crucial waterway at the entrance to the Gulf during an uneasy ceasefire between Washington and Tehran represents a fraction of the average 140 daily passages before the Iran war began on February 28.
“For most shipping companies, they will need a stable ceasefire and assurances from both sides of the conflict that the Strait of Hormuz is safe to transit,” said Jakob Larsen, chief safety and security officer at shipping association BIMCO.
“In the meantime, shipping will be restricted to using routes close to Iran and Oman. Due to their confined nature, these routes cannot safely accommodate the normal volumes of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz,” Larsen added.
The Iranian-flagged oil products tanker Niki, which is subject to US sanctions, was among the few vessels that sailed out of the strait with no destination listed, Kpler analysis and tracking data on the MarineTraffic platform showed on Friday.
It was unclear what would happen if it continued to sail further east towards the blockade line imposed by the US Navy.
Nearly two months after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, there is little sign of peace talks resuming.
Container shipping group Hapag-Lloyd said on Friday that one of its ships has crossed the strait but did not provide any information on the circumstances or timing.
The Comoros-flagged supertanker Helga arrived at an offshore oil loading terminal in Iraq’s southern Basra port on Friday, the second vessel to reach Iraq since the strait’s closure.
Iran’s use of a swarm of small, fast boats to seize two container ships near the strait on Wednesday has heightened concerns among many shipping and oil companies.
“The latest seizures make clear, even an ‘open’ Strait of Hormuz is not a safe Strait of Hormuz for seafarers, ships and cargo,” Peter Sand, chief analyst with ocean and air freight intelligence platform Xeneta, said in a note.
Between April 22 and early April 23, seven vessels transited the strait, six of which were involved in Iran-related trade, analysis from Lloyd’s List Intelligence showed.
The closure of the strait has disrupted a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies and triggered a global energy crisis.
Hundreds of ships and 20,000 seafarers remained stranded inside the Gulf with war risk insurers and oil companies watching for any sign that the risks may have eased so they can prepare to sail through.
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11-Year-Old Girl Succumbs to Wounds from Iranian Missile Strike
A photo of Nesya Karadi. Photo: courtesy of her family.
i24 News – An 11-year-old girl has died nearly three weeks after being critically injured by an Iranian missile strike on her family home.
Nesya Karadi passed away Friday at Sheba Medical Center, becoming the 21st civilian fatality in Israel since the current conflict began on February 28.
The attack occurred on April 1, just hours before the start of Passover. Officials confirmed the strike involved an Iranian missile equipped with a cluster warhead; a sub-munition directly hit the Karadi home, wounding 14 people.
Among the injured was Nesya’s father, a volunteer with the Magen David Adom paramedic service. In a final act of heroism before losing consciousness from his own injuries, he reportedly administered life-saving first aid to his daughter.
Hanoch Zeibert, the Mayor of Bnei Brak, expressed the city’s deep grief over the loss of a “pure child whose whole life was ahead of her,” pledging the municipality’s full support to the Karadi family during their ordeal