UK MPs urge Aston Villa to boycott Maccabi Tel Aviv in Europa League game

Pro-Palestinian British politicians are urging English football club Aston Villa to boycott an upcoming match against Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv, amid growing calls for a blanket ban of Israeli clubs and the national team from international competition, as Israel’s deadly war on Gaza remains ongoing.

Aston Villa, who finished sixth in last season’s English Premier League, are set to play against Maccabi Tel Aviv on 6 November at the Birmingham team’s home stadium, as part of the UEFA Europa League’s group stages.

A petition sponsored by Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace & Justice Project organisation and co-signed by Ayoub Khan, the MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, urges the club to cancel the fixture, or at least take immediate steps to "ensure public safety and community harmony".

"This is not a normal football match. It cannot be treated as business as usual," Corbyn and Khan said in the petition.

In the letter addressed to UEFA, European football’s top governing body, the UK’s Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and the West Midlands Police Chief, the MPs said: "As Israel continues its assault on Gaza, killing thousands and devastating civilian infrastructure, sporting fixtures involving Israeli teams cannot be separated from the wider political context."

Corbyn and Khan also pointed to a growing movement urging the likes of FIFA and UEFA to bar Israeli teams from competing, as Israel continues to kill and starve Palestinians in Gaza and destroy their livelihoods. Over 65,000 Palestinians have now been killed since the military campaign began in October 2023.

Additionally, Councillor Waseem Zaffar said on Wednesday he’ll also be boycotting the match should it go ahead, in a stance against Maccabi Tel Aviv’s presence, despite being a long-term fan and season ticket holder.

In an opinion piece in local media, Zaffar said: "Our choice stems from a place of conscience. We simply cannot sit and watch a football team from a state whose government is perpetrating what we and many others view as a humanitarian crisis, with the killing of thousands of innocent children and civilians in Palestine."

He added: "I cannot in good faith be sat in a stadium watching a team play football from a state whose government has contributed to such brutal actions. Football is a global game, and its institutions have a moral responsibility to act when such atrocities are being committed."

The Tel Aviv-based team is also expected to play in bouts against teams in Denmark, Greece, Croatia, Germany, Italy and France.

Opposition to their presence in the competition is likely expected in France and Greece, where pro-Palestinian protests and actions in solidarity with the cause have become commonplace both in sport and outside of it.

Moreover, the team’s fans have also been at the centre of violent incidents with pro-Palestinian protesters in the past. In November last year, Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters clashed with locals in the Dutch city of Amsterdam after they proceeded to tear down Palestinian flags and wreak havoc amid a match against AFC Ajax.

In anticipation of potential violent acts, specifically as the suburb of Aston is home to a sizeable Muslim community where concerns have been raised, Corbyn and Khan are at least urging authorities to either relocate the match to a neutral third country, or hold the match behind closed doors with no spectators.