Maccabi Tel Aviv And No Anti-Semitism

Here’s the BBC scene-setter: “The government has said it is ‘doing everything in our power’ to overturn a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending a football match in Birmingham and is exploring what additional resources could be required. On Thursday, Aston Villa said the city's Safety Advisory Group (SAG) decided that fans of the Israeli club should not be permitted to attend the Europa League fixture on 6 November over safety concerns”.

What, then, was the problem? “On Thursday, West Midlands Police said it had classified the fixture as ‘high risk’ based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including ‘violent clashes and hate crime offences’ between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv fans before a match in Amsterdam”.

Dead right there had been hate crime offences. Like the Maccabi Tel Aviv “fans” chanting “Death to Arabs … we will win, we will win, let the Israeli army win … fuck the Arabs … we will take your girls, who love to party … when we rape them, we will shout ‘today is death’ … you’re the whores of Arabs … we are ashamed of you … we will fuck you … and then drink your blood”.

In addition, let us not forget, to the physical violence meted out by said “fans”. Taking all of that to Birmingham, finding a few non-white taxi drivers to rough up, going looking for brown people to kick, it does not require much application of the grey matter to see why the decision was made.

But whoever was speaking for Starmer and his beleaguered Government, this was merely an excuse to claim it was all about WAAAAH WAAAH WAAAH ANTI-SEMITISM! BBC again: “‘No one should be stopped from watching a football game simply because of who they are,’ a government spokesperson said.” Meaning what? And, right on cue, Heeeeeeere’s Keir! Go on PM: “we will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets”. This is total crap.

But This Was The Word, and so it came to pass that new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood declared “Antisemitism is a stain on our society that shames us all. Every football fan, whoever they are, should be able to watch their team in safety. This Government is doing everything in our power to ensure all fans can safely attend the game”. It’s not about anti-Semitism.

Aston Villa has a significant Jewish fanbase. They are, as with all other Villa fans, allowed to go to the match. It’s NOT about anti-Semitism. It’s about being able to safely Police a “high-risk” fixture where the visiting “fans” have significant previous for violent and racist behaviour. This simple fact was not allowed to enter the out-of-touch world of the Pundit Establishment.

And who would like to, er, kick off for the assembled hackery? How about Michael “Oiky” Gove? “Jews not welcome in Birmingham: official”. Conflating Israelis and “all Jews” is an anti-Semitic trope, as per the IHRA definition. Who else would care to fall into this trap? Have a guess.

Yes, the Mail’s not even slightly celebrated blues artiste Whinging Dan Hodges, and his missing question marks: "The Maccabi Tel Aviv ban has become the acid test for this government. Are Jews going to be properly protected on the streets of Britain”. Conflating Israelis and “all Jews”. That’s real anti-Semitism. Well done Dan. Open mouth, insert boot.

And while Tim Shipman of the Murdoch Sunday Times, Kevin Schofield of the HuffPost, Jon Sopel of LBC, and Camillas Tominey and Long were valiantly attempting to toe the establishment line and gaslight the public, the pollsters at YouGov brought bad news: despite the “agree with what we say or you’re an anti-Semite” line, a majority of the public agreed with the ban.

By a majority of 42% to 28%, with Labour supporters registering a yet bigger margin of 47% to 22%. As Rivkah Brown put it, “Politicians and pundits can scream until they're blue in the face that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans are innocent victims of flagrant antisemitism, but the British public knows what's up”.

The public does indeed know. It’s an operational decision by those in and around Birmingham and Aston Villa. Once again, Starmer loses the room, and so do a worryingly high number of journalists. Do better, folks.

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Oh Tommy - Now Threatening MPs

Infamously, Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, now self-appointed Oberscheissenführer of Reform UK, claimed after the 2016 EU referendum that the result had been achieved “without a shot being fired”. As so often with the far-right, he was lying: Labour MP Jo Cox had been murdered by a Britain First supporter. And Ms Cox was not the only MP to be killed carrying out their duties.

Tory David Amess was, like Ms Cox, murdered at a constituency surgery, as recently as 2021. Both killers were given whole life sentences. Which brings us to yet another incoherent self-pitying outburst from Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, in response to an MP doing nothing more than asking a question in the House of Commons.

Daisy Cooper, who represents the constituency of St Albans, which returned her to Parliament last year with a vote share of 56.6%, used Prime Minister’s Questions this week to pass adverse comment on Lennon, which, given she enjoys Parliamentary Privilege, and Lennon is so supportive of free speech (ho ho ho), one might think would not cause him a problem.

Here’s what she said. “The far right, hate preacher Tommy Robinson, who is currently on trial for allegedly refusing to comply with counter-terror Police, claimed that his legal costs are being paid by Elon Musk. It is outrageous that a man who has so much control over what people read online every day could be funding someone who stokes far right extremism on our streets. If this was Putin, the Government surely would act”.

Daisy Cooper MP

So what say the great champion of FREEZE PEACH to that? As if you need to know. “WHAT A DISGUSTING PIECE OF SHIT!!! This lying (citation needed), censorious (lie), authoritarian (even bigger lie) masquerading as a liberal democrat is none other than the Deputy Leader of her party”.

Lennon’s schtick is that Ms Cooper has not posted sufficiently, or perhaps that should be “not in accordance with his requirements” about Grooming Gangs. About which he later claimed “the fact that the MAJORITY of 'grooming gangs' are in fact MUSLIM”, which is another lie.

Ms Cooper maintained her stance in an interview with Andrew Marr on LBC. Which only sent Lennon off again. “CALLING OUT THIS LYING, SLANDERING PIECE OF SHIT FOR WHO SHE IS … I don't give a shit about you, you're a crybully and filthy smear merchant … What a piece of filthy shit she is … Her 'values' have led to the industrialised rape and enslavement of generations of British children”. Another one to keep.

Because that last sentence is actionable. And it gets worse: above a video clearly showing Ms Cooper’s Commons intervention, he sniggered “We have them rattled [Elon Musk] just wait till I get my not guilty verdict”. And another one to cut out and keep: that is a nailed-on threat against the MP.

Those of us who have had this SOB rock up on their doorsteps in the dead of night know what that means - either he’s going to attempt to confront Ms Cooper, or he doesn’t mind if one or more of his followers confronts her, or both. Thus the asymmetrical application of free speech in Lennon Land: he can have it, and get away with anything he says, but anyone exercising it to pass adverse comment on him is a legitimate target for intimidation.

So complete is Stephen Lennon’s commitment to keeping women safe (ho ho ho) that he has no problem with threatening, defaming and intimidating them, merely for exercising the same free speech right that he claims to support. But then, he was lying about that one, too. Ms Cooper is probably going to have to step up the security around herself and her staff.

Not that Brave Tommy gives a shit about the consequences of his self-pitying rantfest. In addition to him being a bully, a liar, a racist, and a serial player of victimhood, he’s also a stinking hypocrite. He would be little more than a tiresome irrelevance, except that he is also a malign influence on others, some of whom may take his rant as a green light for more intimidation.

It’s high time that Lennon’s little wild west show ended. This time for good.

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