Readers in Birmingham, do you feel safe? That was, after all, part of the stated aim of banning Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from tonight’s match against Aston Villa. For some reason in spite of this ban, over 700 officers are being deployed to make things extra-safe. Could it possibly be that there is a threat the authorities fear that isn’t the fans they’ve banned?
If I had the misfortune to be anywhere near Villa Park right now, safety wouldn’t be a feeling to jump out at me. Probably because last night masked Muslims were mooching round the area, hoods pulled up for extra anonymity, as they posted antisemitic propaganda.
One sign they pinned to a lamppost read “shooting babies in Gaza, playing games in Birmingham”, smearing every Israeli footballer with alleged wrongdoing during the hostilities with Hamas.
Just imagine an Islamic country’s team bobbing to Aston for a match, only to be greeted with signs reading “flying planes into skyscrapers in New York, kicking balls in Brum”.
We’d all understand why this is wrong.
Another poster proclaimed that Zionists aren’t welcome which, contrary to fashionable pro-Palestine belief, doesn’t mean that only bloodthirsty warmongers aren’t welcome.
Zionism is a broad term that encompasses followers of political traditions from the Left to the Right, the only thing connecting them being a belief that Jews should have a homeland in Israel.
But then, I suppose that qualifies one as a bloodthirsty warmonger in the eyes of those who believe Israel to be a uniquely genocidal state.
And it just so happens, by huge coincidence, to be the world’s only Jewish state. Fancy that.
It just so happens to be Jews who are being accused of routinely shooting babies dead. Why, yes, that’s the same ethnic and religious group who were once accused of using the blood of English Christian children to bake their bread.
And yeah, it does look a bit scary when this hatred is propagated by masked men dressed all in black. Especially given recent scenes of racist thuggery in Tower Hamlets.
With Israeli fans already banned, this unhinged fly-poster campaign looks like an attempt to warn away any Jews who have anything other than hardline anti-Israel views.
So I doubt that Jews feel safer. But say you don’t care about Jews, say you’re a standard-issue Brit with no cultural quirks – are you really comfortable with foreign, sectarian filth taking centre-stage as much it now does?
I’m a Gentile Englishman with Irish heritage and I’m not comfortable.
Britain has had enough sectarianism in its history. And we’re entitled to be happy that it’s gone and to hope that it never returns in any form.
Sadly, these and other events prove that we’re not there yet. We’ll only get there if the authorities refuse to take a side in the damaging sectarian battles that blight this country.
By banning Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, the police haven’t made non-Jewish Brits safer. What they’ve done instead is show you that they can and will pick a side.
If that side happens to be Islamist lunatics then so be it. They seriously think that couching this bizarre, anti-Jewish, anti-British cowardice in the language of safety will be enough to convince you.
But the only people who should feel safe right now are the masked scumbags resurrecting antisemitic hatred to spread their sick propaganda on our streets.