An investigation found that the police first implemented the ban and then retroactively tried to justify it, making false statements about it.
By Dina Bucholz, Jewish Breaking News
Craig Guildford said he would retire from his position as chief constable of West Midlands Police on Friday, effective immediately. His resignation follows bitter accusations over his handling of a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans from attending a match between their team and Aston Villa in Birmingham, England’s second-largest city.
The ban elicited strong condemnations from both the Israeli and British governments, but the police force did not back down. West Midlands police were criticized for failing to coordinate with the local Jewish community, for using an artificial intelligence chatbot to search for a basis on which to justify the ban and for citing a non-existent match between Maccabi and West Ham.
An investigation found that the police first implemented the ban and then retroactively tried to justify it, using false intelligence and make false statements about it.
The police had claimed that intelligence from the Dutch police showed that the Maccabi fans presented a high risk to pro-Palestinian supporters because of their alleged violent confrontations at a match in the Netherlands. The police alleged that Dutch intelligence informed them that it had dispatched 5,000 police officers to quell the violence and that an Israeli fan threw a Muslim fan into a canal.
The Dutch denied those intelligence reports and said they were false.
They had, in fact, dispatched 1,200 officers, and it was a Muslim fan who threw an Israeli fan into the canal.
As a result, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she lost confidence in Guildford’s ability to lead the West Midlands Police force.
“The findings of the Chief Inspector were damning,” she said. “They set out a catalogue of failings that have harmed trust in West Midlands Police.”
Upon announcing his resignation, the police chief said, “I have come to the conclusion that the political and media frenzy around myself and my position has become detrimental to all the great work undertaken by my officers and staff in serving communities across the West Midlands.”
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