News and Views 17th October 2025 

Israel Football Row

• Israeli football fans banned from UK game. Birmingham City Council has blocked Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending an Aston Villa match on November 6 after West Midlands Police advised the council that there were 'safety concerns'. The police say that they issued the ban after 'consultation with community groups' - Birmingham being 30% Muslim. The move has sparked outrage from British Jewish leaders, while Kemi Badenoch branded it a 'national disgrace'. The Maccabi Tel Aviv chief executive said; “small events leading up to something more sinister” amounted to anti-Semitism. The decision was said to have been partly based on historic violence by Israeli fans during a UEFA match in Amsterdam in 2024. But as PT reported at the time, but is not currently being admitted by the media, while there were no doubt faults on both sides, Maccabi fans in Amsterdam (already known for its high levels of antisemitism) were targets of co-ordinated attacks, directly ambushed and hunted down in the streets, beaten, thrown into canals, calling for Jews' deaths, etc. Many later received compensation for the physical and psychological impact suffered.
• Pro-Gaza MP at centre of football row also cast doubt on Oct 7. It has also emerged that pro-Gaza MP, Ayoub Khan, who vigorously defended the ban on Israeli football fans from Villa Park, previously cast doubt on the atrocities committed in the Oct 7 attacks, doubting that women were raped during the 2023 massacre. In the current debate, Khan went as far as stating on GB News that “Maccabi Tel Aviv football club should not even be playing within this international competition.” GB News further noted that Khan allegedly attends a Birmingham mosque where last week, cleric Asrar Rashid handed down an “Islamic ruling” that “we will not show mercy to Maccabi Tel Aviv fans travelling for the Aston Villa match”. Another pro-Gaza independent MP who backs the Israeli football ban, Adnan Hussain, has said hating Israel is not “strong enough”. 
• Shameful example of two-tier policing. Last weekend, huge amounts of police resources were diverted to protecting pro-Palestine marches in the heart of London, attended by tens of thousands. But, noted Telegraph columnist Oliver Brown, "as for ensuring the safety of a few hundred Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters on the streets of Birmingham? All too much bother" - especially ironic given the Prime Minister's promise, in the aftermath of the Manchester synagogue atrocity, of £10 million in extra security for Jewish amenities. Stephen Pollard of The Telegraph wrote that “The Gaza independents are showing their true faces …It is twisted to use the safety of Jews as a justification for banning Israeli football fans.” Read also here, here and here (all from The Telegraph and, sadly, all behind a paywall).

Israel

• Ongoing uncertainty over Trump’s claim of 'peace' in Gaza. President Trump boasted he had brought peace to the Middle East “for the first time in, they say really 3,000 years”.  His peace plan has indeed led to at least a temporary pause to the fighting and the release of hostages (as well as nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. The bodies of 19 hostages remain unaccounted for.) Many remain deeply sceptical of the reality of long-term peace, aware that ‘a truce is not peace’. There remains a profound lack of trust between the parties. The demilitarisation of Hamas is fraught with uncertainty, not least given the very vague language of the peace deal. Equally vague are details on the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Questions of governance, the agreement of a process towards a Palestinian state and the cost of reconstruction have also yet to be resolved.
• Widespread pessimism over future of peace plan. Many Arab states are already pessimistic about the future of the Gaza deal. It has also emerged that in early October, Hamas’ ally, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), called for an urgent meeting to formulate a “unified Palestinian stance” on Trump’s Gaza plan, while Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority was also telling Hamas to “unify with us” while publicly supporting the plan. Some see America’s approval a few days ago to allow Hamas to temporarily conduct security operations in Gaza as a catastrophic strategic error that will undermine the long-term objective of excising the terrorist organization from Gaza’s governance, not least as Hamas has been carrying out mass executions of its Palestinian rivals in the streets of Gaza. Many major media outlets are also pessimistic of any lasting peace under the current deal (eg, read here, here and here). Read also this article.

Tommy Robinson 

• Tommy Robinson's official visit to Israel. British anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson arrived in Israel this week, having been invited by a Minister in the Netanyahu government. (Unusually, the verdict on an existing UK ‘terrorism’ charge was delayed owing to his Israel visit). Robinson said he was in Israel “to show solidarity with the Jewish people”, yet his presence in Israel was denounced by leading Jewish groups in the UK, as well as by some Israeli and British media sources (e.g., read here and here). The Jerusalem Post took a differing stance, sitting down to engage with him in discussion, and noting that “more and more British Jews have warmed to the formerly untouchable” activist.
• ‘Toxifying the defence of the Jewish people’. Most vocal in her opposition to Robinson’s Israel visit is Melanie Philips, who, like Tommy, is pro-Israel, pro-Christian and leans to the right of politics. Yet she considers Robinson dangerous for his use of “inflammatory rhetoric and frequent false allegations … He incites hatred of all Muslims…. the support of such a man is toxifying the defence of the Jewish people.” Phillips concludes her tirade against Robinson by stating, “It could scarcely have been imagined that Israel, of all countries, could have made this crisis for Britain’s Jews even worse. But that’s exactly what it’s now done.” Meanwhile, from Israel, Robinson today (Fri) stated that Trump’s Gaza deal will not bring peace so long as there are those who wish for jihad and the death of Jews.

Islam

• EU pours millions into Islamist propaganda. The European Commission, the primary executive branch of the European Union, is funnelling millions of euros into projects that promote the Qur’an, Sharia and the concept of Islamophobia – which leading lawmakers and scholars have warned advances Islamist advocacy and fuels radical historical revisionism. In particular, critics object to the EC’s funnelling nearly 10 million euros into a six-year research project which seeks “to understand how the Holy Book has influenced both culture and religion in Europe.” The overarching goal appears to be to convince Europeans that Islam and the Qur’an were somehow foundational pillars of European civilisation. Among many who have raised concern at the scheme, Islam expert Raymond Ibrahim commented, “This isn’t scholarship. It’s propaganda.” Read more here.

Quiet Awakening

• Dublin’s March for Jesus ‘politely ignored’ by media. This year’s March for Jesus, held in Dublin city centre in late September, is said to have attracted some 25,000 people – twice as many as the same parade in the southern capital a year ago. The event was seen as “an evangelical initiative, not an ecumenical one”, aiming to proclaim the love of Christ through public witness, worship and prayer. Perhaps because of its evangelical focus, the Irish media gave next to no coverage of the massively supported March. Event organiser John Ahern said there were no interview requests in the lead-up to the event: in great distinction to the Belfast March for Jesus parade, held just a month beforehand, which drew over 8,000 people, and where he got about 25 requests for media interviews. Ahern said he felt the vast increase in numbers this year is part of the ‘quiet revival’ occurring throughout Britain and Ireland.
• Growth at Holy Trinity, Brompton. Alpha pioneer Nicky Gumbel, a leader at Holy Trinity Brompton London, says he believes there are indeed signs of a “return” to Christianity. He said that attendance at the 11:30 service in HTC wouldn't normally be completely full at this time of year. But the other week, “not only was the church completely full, but all the overflow rooms were completely full, and they virtually had to close the building because they just couldn't get everybody in.” Gumbel said he had heard similar stories from churches in the UK as well as in other countries too. “Something is happening,” he said. He believes that people are growing increasingly dissatisfied with other religions and secular ideologies, and amidst the “total instability” of the modern world, many young people are searching for stability and truth.

European Church

• Quiet awakening in France’s Catholic Church. More than 10,000 adults were due to be baptised into the Catholic Church in France in 2025 – a 45% increase on the year before. France is also seeing a rapid rise in sales of the Bible. Religious bookstores report a 20% increase in purchases since 2024. Meanwhile, a record 19,000 people, many young, attended this year’s famous Paris to Chartres pilgrimage, while an unprecedented 13,500 high school students took part in the 2025 Lourdes FRAT pilgrimage, a major annual youth event.

• Reasons for France’s ‘baptism boom’. An in-depth investigation into this phenomenon has revealed that reading the Bible plays a more fundamental role in conversions than the internet and social media. Also, many young seekers arrive at church with an idea of religion shaped not by Christianity but by Islam – being motivated by Muslim friends openly embracing their faith and religious identity without reservation. Many spiritual seekers across France have been on a journey for years, hidden from view, out of fear of being misunderstood by friends or family.

Antisemitism

• London council omits anti-Semitism from list of hate crimes. London’s Tower Hamlets Council omitted any reference to anti-Jewish discrimination from a website page promoting support for National Hate Crime Awareness Week. The page included many other forms of prejudice, including disablism, homophobia, transphobia and, of course, Islamophobia. Former Labour MP Lord Austin said the omission “was an appalling failure” and that anyone in the Council found to have deliberately removed the word ‘antisemitism’ should be sacked. Following expressions of concern, the term was eventually included on the website. Ironically, the borough of Tower Hamlets was once home to one of Britain’s oldest Jewish communities – dating back to the 17^th century. Official figures show the number of anti-Semitic attacks in Tower Hamlets is proportionally far higher than Islamophobic attacks per head of population.

• A Jewish lawyer wearing a Star of David was arrested after police alleged the symbol had “antagonised” pro-Palestine protesters.
• A doctor who was allowed to keep her job after she allegedly denied the Holocaust has claimed that media focus on the Manchester synagogue attack is an example of “Jewish supremacism.” 
• Police have arrested pro-Israel supporters who were holding placards which read “we stand with Britain's Jews”, while pro-Palestine protesters were filmed chanting “death to the IDF” elsewhere in central London. 
• The Hostages and Missing Families Forum in the UK has condemned a decision by the BBC to publish a sympathetic interview with a self-described “Palestinian Jew” who was filmed cutting down yellow ribbons for Israeli hostages in Gaza, describing it as “deeply disappointing”.
• Explicitly anti-Semitic graffiti in the form of “Dirty Jew” was spray-painted in black overnight on a wall in the eastern Paris suburb of Vincennes, close to a private, discreet Jewish elementary school, a week before the 2nd anniversary of October 7^th.
• A University of Oxford student has been arrested after he led chants for Gaza to “put the Zios in the ground”. Police later removed firearms and ammunition from his home. 
• Sadiq Khan says the “From the river to the sea” chant is not antisemitic and dismissed claims that it calls for the destruction of the state of Israel.