Parliamentary committee that whitewashed Maccabi Tel Aviv almost entirely made up of ‘friends of Israel’

Almost no one on a key parliamentary Home Affairs committee is not a member of ‘friends of Israel’ lobby groups.

Home Affairs friends of Israel

The parliamentary ‘Home Affairs Committee’ (HAC) met to discuss the West Midlands Police ban on rampaging Israeli ‘fans’ of Maccabi Tel Aviv football club. The HAC panel took place amid a concerted effort by the Israel lobby to whitewash the thuggery of the club’s racist fan base, as the Israel lobby tries to force out the West Midlands chief constable and claim he invented evidence to justify the ban because they are Israeli, rather than because they are violent, racist thugs.

The Zionist campaign has conveniently ignored the inconvenient facts that, just by way of example:

• The same thugs were banned by governing body UEFA in December 2025 because of their violence and racism.
• A Maccabi game had to be abandoned in Israel in October because the club’s supporters were throwing missiles, flares and smoke grenades at opposing supporters.
• The thugs routinely shout chants about raping and murdering Palestinians and mocking murdered Palestinian children.
• The BBC had to admit that video it claimed showed Maccabi fans being attacked in Amsterdam last year actually showed them attacking Dutch bystanders.
• Dutch intelligence services classified Israel as a threat to the Netherlands’ national security after Maccabi fans went on their racist rampage in Amsterdam. Israel lobbyists claimed the ‘fans’ were victims of antisemitic mobs.

Not so open and shut

Surely an open and shut case for the Home Affairs committee, then. Except that, when asked to declare any relevant interests, almost every committee member – including the chair – had to admit to being a ‘Friends of Israel’ member. Of the two who didn’t say they were, one had accepted a donation from LibDem Friends of Israel and the other chairs parliament’s ‘all-party’ group on ‘antisemitism’:

Labour MP Joani Reid, the all-party group chair, appears on the ‘Is my MP a war criminal?’ website under the classification “Clearly anti-Palestinian”:

Well, well, well

Another of the home Affairs panel was a member of the ‘Board of Deputies of British Jews’ (BOD) as well as a friend of Israel member. The BOD is affiliated to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland, and the World Zionist Organization. The BOD’s constitution says that the reason for its existence is to “advance Israel’s security, welfare and standing”.

Labour Friends of Israel member Jo White also admitted to being the wife of John Mann. Mann, an Israel fanatic, was made a peer by Boris Johnson. Mann is notorious for his verbal assault and attempt to bully former London mayor Ken Livingstone after Livingstone pointed out that German Zionists had briefly collaborated with the Nazis. He has also been called a racist by Gypsy-Roma Traveller activists after he published a pamphlet, as a ‘Labour’ MP, describing being a Traveller as ‘anti-social behaviour’. Mann was interviewed by police under hate-speech legislation.

Senior West Midlands Police officers defended their decision during the HAC session. But with a panel composed of friends of Israel (or worse), the smart money will only be backing one outcome.

Featured image via the Canary