London is considering securing the Aston Villa-Maccabi match in exchange for the English team allowing Israeli fans to enter.

The British government is considering sending police reinforcements and adopting additional security measures to the city of Birmingham to prevent the Europa League match scheduled for November 6 between Aston Villa and the Israeli team Maccabi from going ahead without the presence of the latter's supporters. The decision follows Aston Villa 's ban, at the request of the police and local authorities, on Maccabi supporters entering the stadium. This could be accompanied by the establishment of a cordon of law enforcement around the stadium to prevent Israelis from even approaching it.

Aston Villa 's decision seeks to avoid a repeat of the night of unrest - and its subsequent politicisation - that occurred on 7 November last year, when another Europa League match, this time between Dutch side Ajax and Maccabi , turned parts of Amsterdam into a battleground.

But that is not an acceptable prospect for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer , Labour (Social Democrat) , who called it "wrong" and added, in a post on the social network X (where, curiously, since 2024 several prominent neo-Nazi accounts have been authorized) that "we will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets" . For Starmer, law enforcement must ensure the attendance of all peaceful fans, of one team or another or nationality, at any sporting event. The reaction of the Israeli government has been harsher, whose Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, of the conservative Likud party, has called it "shameful" . The leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch , has referred to the ban on the attendance of Israeli fans as a "national shame" .

So London is talking to Birmingham , the West Midlands Police (where that city is located), and Aston Villa , to try to create a security environment that will prevent a ban. The most obvious solution seems to be a drastic increase in the number and resources of law enforcement in a highly charged environment influenced not only by the war in Gaza but also by the attack carried out by a Muslim fundamentalist on a synagogue in Manchester , in which three people died, one of them the terrorist.

For the time being, Aston Villa will not reserve tickets for Maccabi to distribute to its fans and will not allow online ticket sales in Israel . Police will patrol the stadium grounds and the bus and train stations on the 6th in search of Maccabi fans.

The reason for the controversy is that West Midlands Police insist they do not have the personnel or resources to ensure a peaceful match, especially in the face of groups coordinated on WhatsApp and other social media platforms, as was the case with Maccabi fans last year. This is followed by the Birmingham Safety Advisory Group (SAG), a body made up of the city's police, city council, fire department, and ambulance service, as well as Aston Villa itself, which has recommended that Maccabi fans not attend the match . Based on these two recommendations, the club's board has decided that the Israelis will not be present at Aston Villa Park on November 6.

The entire controversy stems from what happened on November 7, 2024, when the Europa League match between the Dutch club Ajax and the Israeli club Maccabi ended up unleashing a wave of riots, fights, and vandalism . The Israeli team's fans tore down Palestinian flags and some of them refused to observe a minute of silence in honor of the more than 200 dead at the DANA in Valencia . In response, the Dutch fans engaged in a savage "hunt" for the Israeli fans. The wave of violence resulted in 62 arrests , of whom four were sentenced to prison terms.