Corbyn demands Lisa Nandy retract 'misleading' Maccabi Tel Aviv smears against MPs

Former Labour leader and independent MP Jeremy Corbyn has accused Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy of making "grossly misleading" comments in parliament over a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a November fixture against Aston Villa.

The letter from Corbyn comes as the Guardian revealed details of the police intelligence which led to the ban, which directly contradicts statements made by Nandy and other government ministers, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Labour ministers have called for the reversal of the ban, which they have denounced as antisemitic. 

Police intelligence concluded the biggest risk of violence came from Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.

The assessment came from intelligence provided by Dutch police who told their British counterparts that the Maccabi fans attacked random Muslims in Amsterdam at a game in November.

West Midlands Police noted that some local Jewish people backed a ban because of the trouble that could ensue if fans came and launched attacks on residents in Birmingham.

Ayoub Khan on Maccabi Tel Aviv ban: 'False smears put my family in danger'

Read More »

The police also believed there was a risk that violence started by Maccabi fans could trigger reprisals from locals.

Speaking in parliament on Monday, Culture Secretary Nandy criticised suggestions that the ban was due to the behaviour of the Israeli club's fans.

She said the decision was "based in no small part on the risk posed to those fans that are attending who support Maccabi Tel Aviv, because they are Israeli and because they are Jewish". 

In a letter to Nandy on Tuesday evening, Corbyn expressed "deep disappointment" at her comments.

Corbyn had insisted in the chamber on Monday that the ban was "absolutely not about banning Jewish people" and that "everybody - whether Jewish, Muslim or anything else - must be safe to walk the streets of this country".

Nandy had responded that "he might make that point to the people he now associates with on his left and right [Corbyn's fellow independent MPs, who are Muslim], because that is not what we have heard from them in the last few weeks."

'Shameful misrepresentation'

In his letter, Corbyn accused Nandy of a "shameful misrepresentation of my colleagues' views" and demanded that she "return to the House of Commons" to retract her comments.

"My independent colleagues in parliament - Ayoub, Zarah, Iqbal, Shockat and Adnan - work diligently to serve people of all faiths and others in their communities."

In parliament, independent MP Ayoub Khan denounced what he called a "deliberate, disingenuous move by many to make this a matter of banning Jews, and to conflate matters of policing with those of religion".

He cited the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan base's well-documented track record of violent rampages in European cities.

Nandy responded by claiming "it is entirely disingenuous to say that you respect cohesion and inclusion when you are seeking to divide and exclude".

Khan told MEE: "The false narrative spewed out by members of parliament and the media has put me and members of my family in danger.

"It's obvious that I'm standing for equality, and for isolating nations responsible for human rights violations."

'We are being singled out'

In parliament, Nandy had also suggested Iqbal Mohamed - another independent MP - was behaving in a "way that is antisemitic".

Mohamed had denounced "the conflation of antisemitism with the banning of football hooligans who happen to come from Israel".

Maccabi Tel Aviv declines tickets to UK game after Tommy Robinson vows to defend fans

Read More »

"We are being singled out only because we are Muslims," Khan told MEE.

"If the chief constable [who defended the ban] was a Muslim, my goodness - wouldn't they have gone for him."

Adnan Hussain, a fellow independent MP, told MEE: "The hostility my colleagues and I faced in the chamber... was appalling."

He added: "I've been facing a huge amount of racism, Islamophobia and masked threats."

On Monday night Maccabi Tel Aviv announced it had decided not to sell any tickets to its fans for the 6 November fixture against Aston Villa in the English city of Birmingham.

Maccabi fans have a long track record of using hate speech and causing violence and disruption in European cities.

Amsterdam City Council recently banned Maccabi Tel Aviv from the Dutch capital after the club's fans caused mayhem by rampaging through the city in November, before and after their Europa League match against Ajax.