What happened in Birmingham, England, wasn’t about soccer.
Outside Aston Villa’s match against Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv, mobs gathered—not to cheer for their team, but to hunt Jews. Israeli fans had already been banned “to keep the peace,” yet the violence came anyway.
Police described it as “significant hooliganism within Maccabi Tel Aviv’s fan base”—even though Israeli supporters weren’t allowed to attend. That framing allowed the media to avoid calling the attack what it was: antisemitism. Instead, outlets like Sky News echoed the police narrative, inventing a “both sides” story that suggested Israeli fans had played a role.
Meanwhile, pro-Israel demonstrators were locked behind barriers “for their protection,” while rioters roamed free shouting “baby killer.” Eleven arrests followed, but not one official acknowledgment that the attack was motivated by antisemitism.
This wasn’t hooliganism. It wasn’t a soccer riot. It was an antisemitic mob—and both the police and the media refused to say so. The longer they keep pretending otherwise, the more they normalize open hatred of Jews in plain sight.
