Opinion | An English City Bars Israeli Soccer Fans

Is Britain safe for Jews? On Thursday authorities in Birmingham, the country’s second-largest city, prohibited the fans of an Israeli soccer team from attending a match next month, even though the threats to cause trouble are coming from locals. What an alarming message from police, and it comes barely two weeks after an Islamist terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester.

The match, scheduled for Nov. 6, is part of a larger tournament and will pit Birmingham’s Aston Villa team against Maccabi Tel Aviv. The Safety Advisory Group, an arm of the city government, last week barred Tel Aviv fans from attending, ruling that the event is “high risk.” West Midlands Police, which advises the committee, said the decision “is based on current intelligence and previous incidents.”