Pro Palestinian crowds shrieking and yelling at the Aston Villa Park Stadium

Well on that point we will never agree Oreo. You cannot destroy schools, hospitals, homes and deny the civilian population the right to food ie commit genocide because of one evil act by a terrorist group. There is only one reason why the Israeli Government will not allow foreign journalists in to Gaza to record the atrocities committed by the IDF - they know they are breaking every law that is intended to protect civilians in war. So
Many babies, women, old, disabled, aid workers, journalists killed by the IDF - they should have been protected. Israel is a country led by a war criminal and a human rights abuser. The people of Gaza are not to blame.

Oreo

If hamas hadn’t done what they did there would have been no war unleashed upon Gaza to rid it of hamas and take away their power.It wouldn’t have happened, so yes hamas is responsible.
No country would have sat back and taken it, over a thousand slaughtered and two hundred taken as hostages.There was every justification for the war and like any country in a war situation the civilians have paid for the actions of their government.

If you look at the rubble Gaza has been reduced to, the scar that can be seen by satellite. That is not a war, it is Armageddon, a genocide, call it what you will but in all my life I have never seen such utter devastation. Then look at Israel, the pristine streets of Tel Aviv etc. what kind of war completely annihilates a homeland and its people, whilst the other side remains untouched, and yes I know about what Hamas did on Oct 7th, but in the name of God you can’t call what has happened a war between two equally matched opponents, this was very much the mighty destroying the small.

If hamas hadn’t done what they did there would have been no war unleashed upon Gaza to rid it of hamas and take away their power.It wouldn’t have happened, so yes hamas is responsible.
No country would have sat back and taken it, over a thousand slaughtered and two hundred taken as hostages.There was every justification for the war and like any country in a war situation the civilians have paid for the actions of their government.

and blame all Jews in the world including everyone in Israel for the war unleashed on Gaza by Hamas

Oreo - the ‘war’ was not unleashed on Gaza by Hamas. Israel unleashed a war on the people of Gaza using the abhorrent actions of Hamas on October 7th as their excuse to do so.
That is like annihilating the population of Ireland and Irelands infrastructure because of the terrorist bombings by some IRA or UDA terrorists. It is not acceptable to kill innocents and destroy the means of survival of those who remain. One evil act does not in any civilised world justify a disproportionate response. There is no justification for what has happened and is happening in Gaza anymore than there was any justification for what happened on October 7th.

I haven’t finally grasped anything growstuff I have known that all along, but since anti semitism has risen so much it appears that groups of people in this country along with other countries haven’t done and blame all Jews in the world including everyone in Israel for the war unleashed on Gaza by hamas.
I don’t care about which Christian group helped with the messages about antisemitism but am just pleased that they did.
As for maccabi Tel Aviv their fans aren’t anymore violent than many others.Celtic and Rangers for example.In any case, the fans didn’t come so there was no need for any protest by pro Palestinian groups.They have caused hate and division for over two years in the UK and high time they stopped.

StoneofDestiny

*Which ever way you look at it the whole “patriotic” movement has caused division and hatred*

Totally. In this country we never even had the words 'patriot' in common usage until Trump had his 'patriotic proud boys' on the rampage. The flag flying has been nothing to do with pride in the country, it's been about scent marking like dogs do - territory marking. Mortifyingly crass and above all unnecessary.
I do think those that support this nonsense have never travelled beyond their narrow minds! Anything led and supported by the likes of Lawrence Fox, Yaxley Lennon and Katie Hopkins, Elon Musk should be warning enough it is not coming from a good place. And look at the other extremists involved too.

novaramedia.com/2025/09/17/meet-the-far-right-influencers-at-tommy-robinsons-rally/

Well said 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Oreo

Yes StoneofDestiny I can agree with that too.Unfortunately tho antisemitism is now rife in the UK and many European countries simply because some people cannot differentiate between the government of Israel and Jews generally.

People like me have being saying for ages that people can't differentiate between the government of Israel and Jews. There are people who conflate every criticism of Israel with antisemitism. It appears that you've finally grasped that.

People like the Rev Hayley Ace (and her husband) and that activist in London who was warned by police (but it turned out he'd done that kind of thing before) don't do those who are seriously concerned about antisemitism any favours.

Maccabi Tel Aviv fans have a reputation for thuggery. Maybe the club board can make an effort to clean up their own fans' behaviour because people are seeing through the antisemitism line which is being spun.

Which ever way you look at it the whole “patriotic” movement has caused division and hatred

Totally. In this country we never even had the words 'patriot' in common usage until Trump had his 'patriotic proud boys' on the rampage. The flag flying has been nothing to do with pride in the country, it's been about scent marking like dogs do - territory marking. Mortifyingly crass and above all unnecessary.
I do think those that support this nonsense have never travelled beyond their narrow minds! Anything led and supported by the likes of Lawrence Fox, Yaxley Lennon and Katie Hopkins, Elon Musk should be warning enough it is not coming from a good place. And look at the other extremists involved too.

novaramedia.com/2025/09/17/meet-the-far-right-influencers-at-tommy-robinsons-rally/

Sadly Oreo it has been made impossible in some quarters to criticise Israel without being accused of being anti semitic. It's now back firing!

banning the fans was actually about banning a bunch of proven aggressive thugs, and was advised by foreign police who had experienced their behaviour

Correct.
That and the fact 10 Names Tommy Yaxley Lennon had just visited Israel, and photographed wearing a Maccabi football shirt. A right wing extremist visiting a country with an extreme right wing government - a serious concern to security forces. Maybe Israel might want to keep 10 name Tommy over there - he'd be a better fit there than here.

Yes StoneofDestiny I can agree with that too.Unfortunately tho antisemitism is now rife in the UK and many European countries simply because some people cannot differentiate between the government of Israel and Jews generally.

There's a difference between being anti Israel because of the killing of Palestinians and razing their infrastructure to the ground and anti-Semitism

Agreed

Why do you think that? The BBC have just been castigated for biased reporting against Israel but I never would have thought that they made things up / twisted reports / deception until it came out today.
I read the news from several online sources as well as tv and radio news.

Oreo

I just prefer to observe what the news actually says about the matter, no mental gymnastics needed thanks.

But I thought you didn’t trust news reports about eg Gaza?

I just prefer to observe what the news actually says about the matter, no mental gymnastics needed thanks.

They weren’t kept away, they were on one side of the ground and the pro Palestine group were on the other side.

It was extremely easy to observe what was happening outside the ground as mostly it was before kickoff.

To be honest, it’s not worth responding to these posts because a number of posters just continue to twist the facts. Often with very little knowledge. Some of the mental gymnastics involved with this must just be exhausting

bmacca
I thought you may be inside the stadium watching the match, but it seems you were outside watching the crowds instead.
The news item I read says the police directed them into the caged basketball court.
And why should they have been kept two streets away while the pro Palestinian protesters were outside the Villa ground?
They wanted to make their voices heard just as much as the larger group.
So why were they kept away initially? Why not say that the pro Palestinians were ‘provocative’ with their being there in the first place as no Israeli fans were there?
Two tier policing.

Oreo, they didn’t start off anywhere near the basketball court. They insisted on marching from two streets away to the same area the pro Palestine group had been in for hours. The police escorted them then stopped them by the basketball court so that they could keep the 2 groups separated. The court has several openings, & police were supervising who was going in and out. They were not kept caged in any way. It was also their own decision to leave their allocated area to march to the other group which could be seen as provocative.

Babs03

Yes is sheer hypocrisy when those shouting loudest about antisemitism are fuelling hatred of Muslims, but sadly it seems to be growing inexorably as a trend in society today. And am afraid the PM is not going to speak out about that.

Not growing as inexorably in the UK as antisemitism.

Thanks Allira
🕊️

The pro Israeli group were asked by police to stay in a caged basketball court, so that much is true.
The pro Palestinian crowd were allowed to be out in the open near the Villa Stadium.

Well, tomorrow in church there will be prayers for peace.

I wish all of you peace whatever your beliefs.

It doesn’t matter to me who the Christians were, they paid for messages of peace and an end to antisemitism.
While the pro Palestinians there shouted messages of hate.

Goodness!!

Yes is sheer hypocrisy when those shouting loudest about antisemitism are fuelling hatred of Muslims, but sadly it seems to be growing inexorably as a trend in society today. And am afraid the PM is not going to speak out about that.