Corbyn demands Nandy retract ‘grossly misleading’ comments on Maccabi ban

Jeremy Corbyn has written to Lisa Nandy to condemn her outrageous – and frankly antisemitic – comments. Namely, Nandy claimed that Corbyn and the left don’t care about the safety of Jewish people because they object to allowing a bunch of racist Maccabi Tel Aviv thugs masquerading as football fans to rampage through the streets of Birmingham chanting about rape and murder and looking for Muslims to beat up.

Conflating all Jewish people with a hate mob is antisemitic – yet that’s what Nandy did when she answered Corbyn’s parliamentary question by telling him that, as Corbyn notes in his letter:

the people he now associates with … do not share the view that everybody must be safe to walk the streets of this country.

Of course, Corbyn being Corbyn – and an MP – has used more moderate language. But, his disgust at Nandy and her boss Keir Starmer’s determination to conflate Jewish people and violent thugs is perfectly clear nonetheless. The letter is reproduced below and the text is provided after it for those using screen readers:

I have written to Lisa Nandy, following her grossly misleading comments over the Maccabi Tel Aviv ban.

This is about a group of fans with a history of racism and violence. It is not about banning Jewish people – and any attempt to conflate the two is shameful. pic.twitter.com/B2MsaaZBGq

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) October 21, 2025

Dear Secretary of State,

21/10/2025

I am writing to express my deep disappointment in your response to my question during
yesterday’s Urgent Question; on the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. fans from the fixture
against Aston Villa.

As I said in the chamber, this decision was about the risk to public safety, not about “banning
Jewish people from going to the match or going to Birmingham.”

I requested that we must avoid the dangerous conflation of the behaviour of a group of football
fans from “the wider question of how everybody-whether Jewish, Muslim or anything else must
be safe to walk the streets of this country.”

In your response, you stated that “the people he now associates with … ” do not share the view
that everybody must be safe to walk the streets of this country. Your comment is a shameful
misrepresentation of my colleagues’ views. As you will know, the Safety Advisory Group’s
decision to prohibit away supporters from attending the match was taken to “help mitigate risks
to public safety” after West Midlands Police classified the fixture as “high-risk”. Making this
assessment through the lens of public safety is what most people would hope and expect – and
explains why this decision has public support.

Contrary to your claim that “it is unprecedented in recent times that an entire group of away
supporters have been entirely banned from a game”, Legia Warsaw fans were banned from a
game against Aston Villa in 2023. West Midlands Police took this decision due to “safety fears.”
This is about a group of football fans with a history of racism and violence. This is not about
banning Jewish people -and you know full well that none of us would support such a ban. Any
attempt to conflate these two issues is not just grossly misleading; it is irresponsible and
represents a shameful attempt to exploit the fears and anxieties of Jewish people.

Please can you return to the House of Commons to retract your comments. My independent
colleagues in parliament -Ayoub, Zarah, Iqbal, Shockat and Adnan -work diligently to serve
people of all faiths and others in their communities. We will continue to speak up in parliament
for all of them in the name of equality, justice and peace.

Israel-funded Zionist Nandy is even less likely to do that than she is to be seen at the front of the next march for Palestine, which her boss and his minions want to ban, when the UK Israel lobby has mounted a mass campaign to overturn the safety-driven Maccabi ban, even inventing a ‘Jewish supporters’ organisation to shore up its propaganda.

Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Guardian News