BBC's Glastonbury hate broadcast was ‘chilling violation', say October 7 families

Telegraph

a day ago

The BBC's broadcast of Bob Vylan's antisemitic hate chants at Glastonbury was a 'chilling violation', a relative of the October 7 victims has said.
BBC viewers saw Bobby Vylan, frontman of the rap-punk duo, chant 'death, death to the IDF' and 'from the river to the sea' during his festival set. Many members of the crowd joined in.
The corporation added a warning about discriminatory language but did not mute the chants, and left the livestream on iPlayer for another five hours.
Stephen Brisley's sister, Lianne Sharabi, and nieces, Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, were murdered by Hamas on October 7. His brother-in-law, Eli Sharabi, was recently released from captivity.
Mr Brisley told The Telegraph: 'As a British relative of Eli Sharabi - who spent 491 days as a hostage of Hamas - hearing chants of 'death to the IDF' at Glastonbury was shocking and deeply painful.
'To have that broadcast live, unfiltered, into our home by the national broadcaster felt like a chilling violation.
'Intelligent, balanced discussion about this conflict should be welcomed by all sides. However, whatever people's politics, for families like mine, such indiscriminate vitriol acts as a brutal reminder of the murders that shattered our family and left Eli, an innocent civilian, buried in a tunnel for over a year.
'That kind of blanket hatred, shouted at a festival packed with young people and families - not unlike those massacred at Nova on 7 October - would be ironic if it weren't so sickeningly grotesque.'
Mr Brisley added: 'At a time when dozens of hostages remain in Gaza and countless innocent Palestinians suffer because of Hamas, that kind of chanting isn't protest, nor it is an expression of solidarity - it is a cruel erasure of grief on both sides, when what's needed now is empathy, humanity and peace.'
Liran Berman, whose brothers, Ziv and Gali, are still in captivity, said: 'The BBC again failed in their representation of what is right - and what is wrong.
'The BBC should have stopped broadcasting the moment they heard people shouting 'death to the IDF'.
'The people at Glastonbury should be ashamed of themselves, shouting 'death to the IDF'. At Glastonbury, instead of honouring the dead at the Nova festival and the hostages taken from the Nova festival, they did the complete opposite - supporting the people who killed, butchered and burned them.
'This is not what music festivals should be.'
Tim Davie, the BBC director-general, attended Glastonbury on Saturday and was personally consulted over how the corporation should deal with footage of Bob Vylan's set. He directed that it should not be available on-demand, but did not ask for the livestream to be shut off. The BBC has said it regrets the failure to pull the livestream.
Mr Davie is now facing calls for his resignation.
Mr Berman said: 'I don't think it is for me to decide whether someone should lose their job.
'But the BBC, for the past 21 months since October 7, has apologised more than once or twice for putting out misinformation about Israel and it seems to be an agenda at that point.
'And I think that enough is enough. A slap on the wrist is not acceptable anymore and actions need to be taken. What actions? It's not for me to decide.'
Sharone Lifschitz's parents were kidnapped from the Nir Oz kibbutz. Her 85-year-old mother, Yocheved, was later released alive. The body of her father, Oded, 83, was returned in February.
'What happened at Glastonbury is so sad on several levels,' said Ms Lifschitz. 'First, it hurts the feelings of so many people - Jews and non-Jews alike. And it is further eroding trust in the BBC at a time when we need our institutions and public broadcasting to support liberal values and safe, responsible reporting.'
She added: 'I welcome the BBC accepting its wrongdoing. I believe in the BBC as an institution and understand how complicated things can be. However, the remarks made were in no way unexpected, and the BBC should have been better prepared to prevent such a moment from being broadcast.'
Asked if she had a message for those who were in the Glastonbury crowd watching the performance, Ms Lifschitz said: 'Hate is always the enemy.'
On Tuesday, the punk group claimed they are being ' targeted for speaking up '.
In a post on Instagram, they added: 'The government doesn't want us to ask why they remain silent in the face of this atrocity? To ask why they aren't doing more to stop the killing? To feed the starving?
'The more time they talk about Bob Vylan, the less time they spend answering for their criminal inaction.
'We are being targeted for speaking up. We are not the first. We will not be the last. And if you care for the sanctity of human life and freedom of speech, we urge you to speak up too.
'Free Palestine.'
I count on the IDF to keep my loved ones safe
By Sharone Lifschitz
What happened at Glastonbury is so sad on several levels. It hurts the feelings of so many people – Jews and non-Jews alike. It rallies people to hate and it further erodes trust in the BBC at a time when we need our institutions and public broadcasting for safe and responsible reporting.
I welcome the BBC accepting its wrongdoing. I believe in the BBC as an institution and understand how complicated things can be. However, the remarks made by Bob Vylan were in no way unexpected, and the BBC should have been better prepared to prevent such a message from being so amplified through its own carelessness.
As an Israeli watching the BBC, I find the culpability of Hamas in their coverage of the conflict is very often absent, and also of Islamic Jihad – who held my father hostage, knowing that he was injured and ill, until he died. It is as if they are being forgiven. I hold them responsible; they are clever and vicious and have no regard for the life of their people, let alone ours.
Israelis are also all portrayed as if we all agree with each other, when, in effect, many Israelis feel they are fighting for the very essence of their country as a democracy. Most people I know have demonstrated at least once a week since this government came into power in January 2023. There are very big disagreements within Israel. The subtleties of the situation aren't there. I wish the BBC, as a public broadcaster, made it possible for the people in the UK to understand this complexity. So much misinformation is being thrown around by fake media outlets, that its responsibility to good reporting is even more paramount in order to actually understand what is happening in the world.
Four days after my parents were taken hostage on October 7, and dozens of members of my community were murdered in the cruellest way, I sat at a press conference in London and told my audience that my enemy is hate. I still hold that to be true. I have met many Palestinian people over the years, including since October 7. It isn't always easy to see beyond the hate, beyond the desire for revenge, beyond the voices that allow us to let go of our basic humanity and our understanding of suffering. But it is possible. And it gives me hope and faith in a saner future.
We shouldn't give in to the hate. And we should not absolve those in power on both sides of their responsibility to their people. The devastation in Gaza has as much to do with the fanatics of Hamas and Islamic Jihad – who held my father, a frail man of 83, and who still hold 50 hostages in the most horrific conditions – as it does with the likes of Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir [the ultra-nationalist Israeli ministers sanctioned by Britain ].
We must do all we can to work towards a future for all our children. And we must remember: our children will learn from our example. As a person who has lost so much to this conflict, and whose heart is in Gaza – with our hostages as well as those suffering in these devastating circumstances – I know that seeing all this devastation must feel infuriating, and that hate can seem inevitable. Hate and fanaticism can feel like a movement forward. But it is just fuelling the fire that has already consumed so much. Seeing Glastonbury succumb to that same hate and fanaticism, instead of promoting our capacity to see our shared humanity across borders and religions, was devastating.
For me, hearing chants of 'Death to IDF' was chilling, as it would have been for so many. Being in the IDF is part of Israeli society. The IDF are our children and grandchildren. I disagree with a lot of what the government is making the IDF do at the moment, but I also know that we need them. October 7 showed us what happened when there was no IDF on my kibbutz, and it was horrific. So I count on the IDF to keep my loved ones safe. It is a very complicated situation.
And what could possibly be achieved by this hate speech? Hate is always the enemy. And I say that as somebody who has every reason to hate. The level of trauma that I am surrounded by has totally changed my life, changed my ability to function in this world, changed my ability to even be neutral, to be an outsider. And within all that, it's easy to hold on to anger. Some people do it, and you can see that it never, ever actually brings you forward. My heart has broken so many times. And out of that, I want something better. I want something better for the children of my kibbutz. I want something better for the children of my neighbours and for the people in Gaza.