So there we have it. The pinkos at Kent County Council have taken a Flags First position, even though the patriotic contractors of Harrietsham Parish said it’s perfectly possible for St. George and St. Nick to exist in harmony. The real question now is why don’t these lamp posts have a fucking poppy on them?
That’s exactly the problem. This kind of apathetic shrugging lets the likes of Farage, Johnson and all the other grifting charlatans off the hook. They are not all the same, there are politicians who work hard for their constituents and who have principles.
Politics is a dirty game and it’s difficult to remain completely spotless, but these characters take grifting on to a whole other level.
I really dont know how we got here, and its not just in public life, its in private speech as well. Something nonsensical at the heart of it all, but exploiting what you can prove and what you’d care to prove. Yes, grifting seems to be in vogue. They’ve just started to run a show on the sat night prime time slot on UK TV trivialising betrayal into a game.
Last Friday, the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending Thursday’s Europa League game against Aston Villa in Birmingham was confirmed.
Since then, further information on the police safety assessment has been revealed. It included further details from Amsterdam police (of their experience hosting Maccabi fans) who said “500-600 fans” were "experienced fighters who were highly organised and co-ordinated. They were intent on serious violence and were not afraid of fighting with police,” and that “over 200” Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in Amsterdam last year were “linked to the Israel Defense Forces”, Israel’s army.
Labour ministers had the full Birmingham police risk dossier BEFORE they publicly demanded the ban be dropped.
Indeed, Sports Minister Lisa Nandy said in Parliament, “We have seen the risk assessment… it is based in no small part on the risk to Maccabi fans because they are Jewish.” She then claimed the same document proved the ban was antisemitic surrender.
So Nandy claimed the ban was due to the risk posed by antisemitic British people to the Maccabi fans whilst KNOWING the risk assessment said the risk of violence came FROM the Maccabi fans, a significant number of whom had been identified as “linked to the IDF” and “intent on serious violence.”
WTF is going on between senior Government figures and Israel?
It’s not just that. They have really undermined the police on this. I can see that they would have to be diplomatic but even after the violence in Tel Aviv they framed this as an antisemitism issue rather than a public safety / hooliganism one.
Fuckwits!
I’m not following the detail of this story, but wouldnt this be expected as most people in israel are required to do military service?
I agree.
I also don’t see why the fans having links to the IDF is a massive issue. I have no facts to support my point here but I am sure a number of Celtic/Rangers will have links to Sectarian groups. Also, the term ‘links’ is very ambiguous.
As I have previously mentioned, Villa Park and St. Andrew’s are located in areas with a large Muslim demographic. So I can completely understand that it was going to be a massive headache for the police. It is much easier to ban fans than deal with them, I mean look how much trouble the Legia Warsaw fans caused the other year.
It is sad though, because we are a Country “used to hosting large events” and constantly patting ourselves on the back for our democratic values and yet we politicised a game of Football.
I know quite a lot of Villa fans, and many have mentioned how they felt intimidated by the crowds, felt they almost had to go along with the narrative just so they could go to the game without bother.
I suppose it is down to who you want to believe? I mean neither have provided any facts.
The Middle Eastern Eye (not a neutral source) actually cites the Guardians report from the 21st of October and provides no additional information.
Lisa Nandy, is the Governments Sports Minister, should we trust her to have the “facts”, probably not going by Lammy’s experience last week.
A quote from the article:
“ Rachid O, 26, who was given 10 weeks in jail, was found to have taken part in a WhatsApp chat group called Buurthuis2, on which he referred to intended victims as “cowardly” Jews who he would never again get the chance to attack.
More than 900 people were in the group and the court said the chat had been used to pass on information to “commit violence against people of Jewish descent and/or supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv”.
@koptician I am in no way defending anyone here or making judgement. I do not condone any form of violence. All I am doing is trying to provide a bit of balance to your statement. 
Fact check:
From that same article cited.
Also, the provocations by the Maccabi Tel Aviv hooligans (because let’s face it that’s what they are, and if they were Russian or German or Italian they’d be more roundly condemned instead of excused) took place before the game to the point where the local officials considered cancelling the game:
The events that this disingenuous far-right sympathiser I’m replying to is trying to fudge the narrative with took place after the game:
Were there antisemitic attacks on fans? Yes. Was there good reason to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans? Also yes.
As an aside, it’s thoroughly insidious to insinuate that the key factor was the local Muslim community as opposed to, you know, the hooligan, Islamophobic behaviour of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.
Sure, Muslims might be more inclined to be sympathetic to Palestinians, but that’s more attributable to the shared faith rather than anything else. They’re more likely to be exposed to news and other stories about the plight of the Gazans than the plight of the Israeli citizens, that’s a matter of fact. It’s just like blaming the Ukrainian diaspora for being hostile towards visiting Russian fans. They’re simply more aware of the injustices taking place.
By the way, that’s literally where the term “woke” comes from. From people being awake to the injustices taking place in the world. Trust the small-penis far right to twist it into something negative.
It looks like the Labour government want to go down the Danish route on asylum:
I’m not sure whether I agree with all of this, although at least they are looking at a system which is functional and legal, rather than some sort of performative cruelty that solves nothing.
It’s a bit disappointing that they are poo pooing the idea of resettlement grants for those that could and want to safely return to their country of origin. Maybe that’s a hard sell, but it is something that could benefit everyone and help to stabilise countries that people have been forced to flee from in the first place.
You really do have an agenda against me don’t you.
@koptician was referring to Nandy’s statement, where he dismissed her suggestion that the Maccabi fans may face attacks by antisemitic British fans. All I did was provide a source which showed that fans were attacked by locals in Amsterdam.
How can I be fudging anything if you actually quote the source I used which referred to 5 individuals whom had been sentenced for hit and run attacks. premeditated violence, including a Watsapp group with 900 participants.
I have never dismissed the suggestion that there is an element of their fan base that are hooligans. But fuck me, the English are no better. Anti IRA songs, no Surrender, etc. So a foreign city can host thousands of drunken English fans, yet West Midlands Police cannot contain <3000 fans?
Have we banned Italian, German, ‘insert country’ fans because part of their fan base are hooligans? No, so what’s your point?
You are entitled to believe what you want, interpret a story how you wish but please try and be balanced.
On another note, Call me a far right sympathiser all you like, it’s pathetic and you use it as a tool to try and provide more validation to your post. Also, I thought all far right sympathisers were Nazi’s and anti-Jewish…a bit contradictory.
Anyhow, have a good day
Did you really think that? The current Israeli government is far right and is engaged in the extremely far right policies of genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Please quote where I have said that the key factor was the local Muslim community!
I have never voiced an opinion on what the Muslim community thinks/feels or blamed them. I am not part of the community and have no experience to relate to, but you carry on insinuating.
For someone who cried and reported one of my post directed to you, because it hurt your feelings. I find your tone quite hypocritical, but then again you are the righteous one.
It was a tongue in cheek response to @redalways
Slandering. I am well aware of the atrocities happening in Palestine.
That’s because you have already been told multiple times that the risk assessment from the police was the key factor as to why the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were banned (see also 'Significant hooliganism' within Maccabi Tel Aviv fan base is reason for Aston Villa match ban | UK News | Sky News). You keep pushing the line that it was because of the risk of antisemitic attacks.
I don’t see your point about banning “Italian, German, ‘insert country’ fans” when even their own police called the match to be abandoned.
Huh, just repeated references to the bias of councillors and the demographic composition of the area. Almost like you’re just making indirect references so you can’t be called out for explicit Islamophobia, xenophobia, or racism. @Limiescouse help me out here, isn’t there a term for that in the US? Something to do with high-pitched noises perhaps?
If you’re going to be a troll at least have the guts to admit it, troll.
For someone who’s claiming I reported one of your posts because my feelings got hurt, you sure harp on it a lot for someone who’s also insinuating that their feelings aren’t hurt by that. You also sure pick on me a lot when a lot of people call you out on your disingenuousness.
Newflash. Nobody likes debating you because you’re not here to debate. You’re just here to regurgitate debunked far-right nonsense ad nauseam. You’re the epitome of the whole “I’m just asking a question” bullshit.
Bore off, troll.
Tim Davie, BBC Director General, and Deborah Turness, head of BBC News are resigning over the editing of a Panorama documentary about Trump:
They were both very suspect appointments under Boris Johnson’s watch, but it is quite amusing that they are falling on their swords over a report about one of their own.
Something very Machiavellian is going on here. Maybe there is more to Starmer than we thought?
