UK Deploys 700 Police For Football Game, Not Aid Convoys
Al-Monitor reports over 700 UK police were deployed in Birmingham ahead of a Maccabi Tel Aviv vs. Aston Villa match, citing 'tight security.' This comes after the UK government intervened to reverse a local ban on Israeli fans, only for Maccabi to decline tickets, citing 'safety concerns'—a concern that apparently didn’t warrant a police presence when protestors were threatened with arrest for
merely advocating for a ceasefire. (One wonders if this level of 'tight security' could be extended to, say, protecting aid trucks entering Gaza, or perhaps, protestors in London facing new anti-protest laws.) The emphasis on security for a football match, versus the ongoing, largely unpoliced, slaughter of civilians documented daily by the UN and NGOs, reveals a chilling prioritization. It seems
'safety concerns' for an Israeli football club merits state protection, while actual calls for safety for millions under bombardment are met with arrests and rhetorical hand-wringing. One might ask where such robust security measures are when real, systemic dangers threaten, rather than a few potentially vocal critics.