A UK parliamentary committee has delivered a stinging rebuke of the handling of a decision that barred supporters of the Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv from attending a Europa League match in Birmingham, sharply criticising both West Midlands Police and the government for procedural failures.

The Home Affairs Select Committee found that the original recommendation to ban fans, enacted by a council-led Safety Advisory Group, was based on flawed and unverified intelligence and that the government’s response was slow and aggravated tensions around the fixture.

MPs said the episode reflected deeper shortcomings in police risk assessment and political oversight.

The committee’s report concluded that West Midlands Police had relied on inaccurate information in making its threat assessment, including references to matches and incidents that did not occur, some of which were generated by artificial intelligence tools.

The force’s former Chief Constable Craig Guildford resigned amid mounting pressure after admitting that erroneous data had been presented to lawmakers.

The Home Office was also criticised for not recognising the significance of the impending ban soon enough, despite being warned days earlier that it was likely, leading to a delayed and ultimately ineffective governmental intervention.

Committee chair Dame Karen Bradley said the government’s intervention “did little more than inflame tensions” and highlighted a failure to consider the impact of the decision on the Jewish community and public confidence in policing.

While the report did not find evidence that antisemitism or a conspiracy directly motivated the ban, it said confirmation bias and disproportionate political influence on the decision-making process had undermined trust.

The findings prompted calls to overhaul the structure of Safety Advisory Groups, including proposals to prohibit elected politicians from sitting on them, in order to rebuild community confidence.

The controversy has reverberated across British society, with the episode stoking broader debates about policing, community relations and how intelligence is used to shape major public safety decisions.

West Midlands Police has pledged to learn from the episode and engage with affected communities, while Birmingham city officials have begun steps to rebuild trust locally.

The report’s recommendations aim to prevent similar failures in future and to ensure that security measures are grounded in reliable evidence rather than unverified assumptions.