Police pressure that banned Maccabi Tel Aviv followers from Aston Villa match refuses to again ‘intifada’ crackdown
The police force that controversially banned Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending their match against Aston Villa has refused to crackdown on protesters who chant ‘globalise the intifada’.
West Midlands Police (WMP), which has been embroiled in an antisemitism row after using false information to ban Israeli fans from the match in Birmingham last month, will not commit to arresting those using the phrase.
The slogan, which has been widely adopted by pro-Palestine protesters following the October 7 attacks and Israel‘s military response, is viewed by some as a call for violence against Jews.
The Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police (GMP), the country’s two biggest police forces, announced this week that they would arrest activists who chant the phrase.
It comes after the Bondi Beach massacre which saw 15 people killed in Sydney at a Hannukah event and the deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur.
Police arrested two people ‘for racially aggravated public order offences’ after they allegedly ‘shouted slogans involving calls for intifada’ at a pro-Palestinian protest in central London on Wednesday.
But WMP, whose Chief Constable Mike O’Hara was this month forced to apologise to Birmingham’s Jewish community after falsely claiming the force consulted them over the ban, will not commit to arresting protesters who take part in the chants.
A spokesperson for WMP said: ‘If this occurred, where actions appeared intended or likely to incite violence, racial hatred or cause harassment, alarm and distress, we would take positive action, which may include making arrests, as each incident is always approached on a case by case basis.
West Midlands Police, who banned Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending their match against Aston Villa, has refused to crackdown on protesters who chant ‘globalise the intifada’
Police arrested two people ‘for racially aggravated public order offences’ after they allegedly ‘shouted slogans involving calls for intifada’ at a pro-Palestinian protest in central London on Wednesday
Major pro-Palestinian protests took place outside Villa Park despite Maccabi Tel Aviv fans being banned from attending November’s fixture
‘We reiterate our commitment to taking positive action in circumstances where any protester is breaking the law.’
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary said: ‘West Midlands Police should follow the Met and Greater Manchester Police in making clear that chants for jihad and intifada are calls for violence and will always lead to arrest.
‘West Midlands Police has already apparently engineered the ban of fans from an Israeli team based on fabricated evidence, so they should now be doing everything possible to restore confidence in their ability to protect the Jewish community.
‘With antisemitism on the rise and the murder committed at a Manchester synagogue by an Islamist extremist, every police force must stand up to calls for violence.’
WMP has also come under pressure after it emerged their intelligance report which suggested banning the Israeli football fans referred to a fake match which Maccabi allegedly contested against West Ham.
They also claimed 5,000 officers were deployed in Amsterdam when the team played Ajax last year, although Dutch police said the true figure was 1,200.
The force was also accused of turning Birmingham into a ‘no-go zone’ for Jews.
The decision not to follow the Met and GMP’s lead has been labelled a ‘farce’ by antisemitism campaigners.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: ‘It is particularly galling that West Midlands Police, still in the national spotlight over the Aston Villa fiasco, has not committed to this new policy.
‘Even this modest, extremely belated step by the country’s two main police forces – which has taken two long years – isn’t carrying the support of colleagues nationwide.
‘So you can be arrested for something in one county but your friend down the road can do it with impunity? There is no direction and a total absence of leadership in British policing.
Pictured: A banner carrying the slogan ‘globalise the intifada’ in Regent’s Park, London
Matild, 10, (pictured) was the youngest Bondi Beach shooting victim. She died in hospital after being shot on Sunday
‘Police forces are terrified of standing up to extremists. But appeasing them will not make things easier later on. It will only make things deadlier.’
In a joint statement following the Bondi Beach terror attack, the Met and GMP said: ‘Violent acts have taken place, the context has changed – words have meaning and consequence. We will act decisively and make arrests.
‘We know communities are concerned about placards and chants such as ‘globalise the intifada’ and those using it at future protests or in a targeted way should expect’ the two forces ‘to take action’.
‘Frontline officers will be briefed on this enhanced approach. We will also use powers under the Public Order Act, including conditions around London synagogues during services,’ the statement said.
The UK’s chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis hailed the decision as ‘an important step towards challenging the hateful rhetoric we have seen on our streets, which has inspired acts of violence and terror’.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews added: ‘We strongly welcome this necessary intervention.’
‘We have long warned that people chanting slogans like ‘globalise the intifada’ are inciting violence, and we have been making the case for robust enforcement in relation to this slogan with government at all levels for some time,’ the board said.
Palestinian Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal claimed it was ‘another low in the political repression of protest for Palestinian rights’ and that protest against the oppression of Palestinians ‘does not become a crime because someone says it in Arabic’.
Lincolnshire Police have also committed to arresting anyone using the phrase, while other forces including Cambridgeshire Constabulary say they will judge cases on an individual basis.
