Ulster MP’s claim police caved to Muslim ‘pressure’ over Maccabi row ‘disgraceful and divisive’

A Democratic Unionist Party MP, Sammy Wilson, has been reported to the parliamentary standards commissioner for claiming that police banned Israeli football fans due to Muslim influence. Wilson alleged in parliament that West Midlands police had "given in to pressure from Muslim politicians and Muslim thugs" when they banned fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv from a match. This ban had previously been denounced as antisemitic by the British government. The police decision was reportedly based on confidential intelligence describing the fans as highly organized and intent on causing violence, though subsequent reports have questioned the threat assessment.