Bob Vylan stands by Glastonbury IDF chant: ‘I said what I said'
Bobby Vylan, half of the punk rap duo Bob Vylan, led a controversial chant of "death, death to the IDF" during their performance at Glastonbury Festival on Saturday, June 28.
Glastonbury organisers condemned the chants as "appalling" and crossing a line, stating there is no place for antisemitism, hate speech, or incitement to violence at the festival.
Following the performance, Bobby Vylan issued a statement on Instagram, asserting that he stood by his comments and called for a "change in foreign policy."
Police are currently assessing footage of comments made by both Bob Vylan and another band, Kneecap, who also performed politically charged chants, to determine if any offenses were committed.
Keir Starmer also condemned the performances by both bands and demanded an explanation from the BBC regarding the live broadcast of the "appalling" chants.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Glasgow Times
25 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Criminal investigation into Kneecap and Bob Vylan performances at Glastonbury
Avon and Somerset Police said officers had reviewed video footage and audio recordings from the sets at the Somerset festival on Saturday. The force said a criminal investigation is under way with a senior detective appointed to lead the investigation. Kneecap performing on the West Holts Stage (Ben Birchall/PA) During Bob Vylan's performance, rapper Bobby Vylan chanted 'death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)', while a member of Belfast rap group Kneecap suggested fans 'start a riot' outside his bandmate's upcoming court appearance. A police spokesman said: 'This has been recorded as a public order incident at this time while our inquiries are at an early stage. 'The investigation will be evidence-led and will closely consider all appropriate legislation, including relating to hate crimes. 'We have received a large amount of contact in relation to these events from people across the world and recognise the strength of public feeling. 'There is absolutely no place in society for hate.' The force said neighbourhood policing teams were speaking with people in their local communities and key stakeholders, which it hoped would reassure the public 'how seriously we are treating Saturday's events'. Please see the statement below with an update on our investigation into comments made on stage at Glastonbury Festival on Saturday. An accessible version of the statement can be found on our website: — Avon and Somerset Police (@ASPolice) June 30, 2025 It asked members of the public to stop reporting the matter because an investigation is already taking place. The BBC has expressed its regret at not pulling the live stream of Bob Vylan's performance, saying the 'antisemitic sentiments' expressed were 'utterly unacceptable'. Christopher Landau, the US deputy secretary of state, said the band had been banned from the US ahead of a tour later this year due to their 'hateful tirade at Glastonbury'. Bob Vylan played at Coachella in California earlier this year but will be unable to return to the US. They were set to perform in Chicago, Brooklyn and Philadelphia in the autumn. The duo, formed in Ipswich in 2017, have released four albums addressing issues to do with racism, masculinity and class. Bobby Vylan's real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster, 34, according to reports. In a statement posted to Instagram after the Glastonbury set, Vylan said: 'Teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place. 'As we grow older and our fire starts to possibly dim under the suffocation of adult life and all its responsibilities, it is incredibly important that we encourage and inspire future generations to pick up the torch that was passed to us.' They are due to perform at Radar Festival in Manchester on Saturday and Boardmasters, a surfing and music festival in Newquay, Cornwall, in August. Kneecap have been in the headlines after member Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, was charged with a terror offence. In reference to his bandmate's upcoming court date, Naoise O Caireallain, who performs under the name Moglai Bap, told Glastonbury they would 'start a riot outside the courts', before clarifying: 'No riots, just love and support, and support for Palestine.'
The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
UK's sale of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel is lawful, high court rules
Britain's decision to allow the export of F-35 fighter jet components to Israel, despite accepting they could be used in breach of international humanitarian law in Gaza, was lawful, London's high court has ruled. The ruling after more than 20 months of litigation will be a relief to ministers who feared that if the court declared the UK sale of F-35 parts illegal, British involvement in the highly lucrative Lockheed Martin F-35 consortium would be put at risk. In a 72-page comprehensive ruling Lord Justice Males and Mrs Justice Steyn said they had rejected all the grounds of challenge to a Labour government decision in September to suspend 30 arms export licences to Israel but to continue to sell F-35 parts to Israel via a global supply pool. The government argued that disruption to the F-35 supply chain would weaken the west and Nato at an acutely sensitive moment. The UK provides about 16% of the parts for the F-35s, and the court was told in closed session that the Lockheed Martin global pool was not structured to permit the UK to insist its parts were withheld from Israel F-35s. The judges ruled that the 'acutely sensitive and political issue' was 'a matter for the executive which is democratically accountable to parliament and ultimately to the electorate, not for the courts'. The case had been brought by the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and Global Legal Action Network (Glan), supported by Human Rights Watch, Oxfam and Amnesty International. The judges said: 'The issue is whether it is open to the court to rule that the UK must withdraw from a specific multilateral defence collaboration which is reasonably regarded by the responsible ministers as vital to the defence of the UK and to international peace and security, because of the prospect that some UK-manufactured components will or may ultimately be supplied to Israel, and may be used in the commission of a serious violation of IHL [international humanitarian law] in the conflict in Gaza.' The court rejected all 13 grounds for complaint mounted by Al-Haq's lawyers, and in so doing moved to protect ministers from judicial review based on their international law obligations. Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) called the judgment cowardly, after the court determined that it had no clear jurisdiction to rule on UK compliance with international law obligations if the law was not incorporated into UK law. Despite the ruling, the case has revealed serious weaknesses of the UK arms export regime and the case ministers have mounted in parliament to justify F-35 sales. In parliament ministers have held that it is only for a competent international court, and not politicians, to assess the existence of a genocide. But in pleadings in court, lawyers revealed that in July 2024 the government had assessed there was no serious risk of a genocide occurring in Gaza, and claimed not to have seen evidence that women and children were deliberately targeted in Gaza. The case also revealed that in assessing whether the Israeli Defense Forces had acted disproportionately, one of the key tests of a breach of IHL, the government evidential requirements were set impossibly high. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion By September 2024, when Israel, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry, had killed 40,000 Palestinians and launched over tens of thousands of airstrikes on Gaza, the government had examined just 413 of these individual incidents – and of those it found only one possible violation of international law. That possible breach was the World Central Kitchen attack on 1 April 2024 that killed seven foreign aid workers. This means the government had not found any possible breach of IHL in respect of any incident that killed exclusively Palestinians. Al-Haq argued in court that ministers should not have focused solely on the potential Israeli justifications for a specific bombings, but also looked at the overall pattern to gather a sense of proportionality. Dearbhla Minogue, a senior lawyer at Glan, said: 'The judges declined to review the defendant's genocide assessment on grounds that it is not an area suited to the court. This should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the government, but rather a restrained approach to the separation of powers.' Sara Husseini, of the British Palestinian Committee, said: 'Now the courts have kicked the issue back to the ministers, it is a matter for MPs and the electorate to hold the government to account.' Yasmine Ahmed, the UK director of Human Rights Watch, said: 'Judicial deference to the executive in this case has left the Palestinians in Gaza without access to the protections of international law, despite the government and the court acknowledging that there is a serious risk that UK equipment might be used to facilitate or carry out atrocities against them. The atrocities we are witnessing in Gaza are precisely because governments don't think the rules should apply to them.'
BBC News
38 minutes ago
- BBC News
Public invited to decide how MPs' pay should be set
Parliament's expenses watchdog wants around 20 members of the public to take part in a review of how it sets MPs' Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) says the "citizens' forum" will help shape pay and expenses policy from next year group will meet four times in September, and make recommendations alongside a wider online consultation expected to run until the review will also look at how the pay of British MPs compares to politicians in other basic salary is currently £93,904, following a 2.8% annual rise in April. The watchdog is legally mandated to review how it determines MPs' salaries and expenses following each general reviews have used online consultations to gather views, but this is the first time members of the public have been asked to participate directly in the is expected around 20 to 25 people will be recruited via a postal lottery of 10,000 addresses, with the aim of selecting a group that is broadly representative of the wider UK taking part will be asked to make recommendations to Ipsa's board as part of the review, which must conclude before April next says those taking part must be aged 18 or over, and do not need any prior knowledge, or an interest in politics. The move is the latest example of a British body using a co-called citizens' assembly model when making a decision, following its widespread use in has previously been employed by the Scottish government to discuss constitutional questions after Brexit. Westminster committees have used it to decide recommendations on climate change and social say the model can help make decisions more democratic, although critics have questioned the extent to which panels of volunteers are ever able to reflect wider views in the broader model had been tipped for wider government use after Sue Gray, Sir Keir Starmer's then chief of staff, said Labour would use it to decide contentious issues such as where houses should be built and how to reform the House of Gray entered Downing Street after the election but was replaced after three months, and those plans appear to have been shelved. Annual pay awards Ipsa was created in the wake of the 2009 expenses scandal to take on the task of setting MPs' pay, which was previously decided by MPs watchdog does not currently have a set formula for deciding MPs' annual salaries. Instead, it says it balances data on public sector pay against the economic context, and pay in the "wider working population".In recent years it has experimented with linking annual awards, which take effect each April, to average public sector pay figures published the previous it has not always stuck rigidly to using this 2023, it recommended a higher pay rise for MPs, arguing the official data had failed to capture cost of living bonuses awarded elsewhere in the public year, it recommended a lower rise, by linking its 2.8% rise to initial Treasury plans for the public sector, which have since been increased after the government accepted a series of recommendations from pay review bodies last a report published last year, Ipsa found that in 2023 British MPs were paid more than counterparts in countries including France and New they were paid less than equivalents in Ireland, Germany, Canada, Australia and the United States, the survey found. Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to read top political analysis, gain insight from across the UK and stay up to speed with the big moments. It'll be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
