The message could not be clearer: Israeli football fans are not welcome in Birmingham. I am no lover of football, but that doesn’t stop me feeling outraged and sickened by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans being told not to attend their Europa League game against Aston Villa next month. The seats at Villa Park that had been allocated to the Israeli visitors for the fixture will now remain empty.

In Amsterdam, Maccabi supporters were attacked by anti-Semitic mobs

The appalling decision to tell fans of the Israeli club that they are not permitted to attend the 6 November game – meekly accepted, of course, by West Midlands Police and Villa – comes from Birmingham City Council’s Safety Advisory Group. What an appropriately saggy acronym the letters SAG make.

Police said the move to prohibit travelling

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