And of course food in India & Pakistan is somewhat different to “Indian food” in Britain and British Chinese food is very different to food in China (and correspondingly some of the versions of European foods in those countries is different)
But in terms of contemporary political activism/participation, this is a vast number of people
Also, if the idea is these are “working age private sector professionals” they’re going to end up being geographically concentrated - so the party will still end up with a bloc of nutty pensioners
I’d object to any supporters getting special treatment
And if this wasn’t an Israeli team, no one would be weighing in to argue for them
And if anyone tried to claim it was anti Turkish or anti Swedish racism when their travelling fans were banned, they’d be laughed at - as you deserve to be
Do we really think a random independent MP or political protesters rather than “generalised fear of disorder, potentially primarily from the Israeli traveling fans” is the real driver tho?
This is the police - they want to avoid disorder - and costs
It’s very revealing that they’re block happy for anyone arguing against the public safety rules being changed exceptionally for Israelis but happy to “debate” with pro Palestinian activists who will fall into “Palestinian rights vs Jewish safety” trap
The reason it was notable was asserting that something universal in Britain was and should be treated as British and not something foreign or a subculture
This is exactly what is happening now in Germany in respect of “German donor kebabs”
Sure but this is a travelling fan base that is likely to be subject to a ban in any counterfactual world where Gaza didn’t happen.
So approaching this from first principles there’s no reason to treat this as any different to a ban on Turkish fans etc unless/until someone adduces evidence.
I don’t believe that for a minute - I don’t think the police were reacting to the MP
I do however think pro Israeli activists like you either think it will be PERCEIVED as a victory for such people and want to deny them this OR are so far down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole, you believe it
This doesn’t hold logically as a claim because British - or Israeli - Jews can still attend the home end & non-Jewish Maccabi fans can’t attend the away end.
It’s logically untenable to treat “travelling fans from Israel” as a barometer for British Jewish inclusion or safety.
