Football club Maccabi Tel Aviv has issued an statement declining any away tickets for their fans on the upcoming Europa League match against Aston Villa in Birmingham on November 6. "The wellbeing and safety of our fans is paramount and from hard lessons learned, we have taken the decision to decline any allocation offered on behalf of away fans", said the club.
Initially, the English club took the decision to forbid away visitors into their stadium, as to avoid any violent clashes, following recommendations from the local safety advisory group. This decision was criticised by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, describing it as a wrong decision, saying "we will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets".
There were discussions about reversing that decision, but before that would happen, Maccabi Tel Aviv decided to decline any invitation. The Israeli club acknowledged the efforts of the UK government and police and said to be grateful for the messages of support across football community and society.
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"Our first team squad consists of Muslims, Christian and Jewish players and our fan base also crosses the ethnic and religious divide. We have also been working tirelessly to stamp out racism within the more extreme elements of our fan base", said the club. "It is clear, that various entrenched groups seek to malign the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan base, most of whom have no truck with racism or hooliganism of any kind, and are exploiting isolated incidents for their own social and political ends."
The club refers to what they call a false and distorted image of violent fans as well as the intervention of "divisive figures with abhorrent views that have no place in football" that do not represent the club.
"As a result of the hate-filled falsehoods, a toxic atmosphere has been created which makes the safety of our fans wishing to attend very much in doubt", Maccabi Tel Aviv said, and concluded the statement saying they hope circumstances change so to be able to play in Birmingham in the near future.