Glastonbury and Israeli government slam Bob Vylan over 'death to the IDF' chants
Glastonbury and the Israeli government have slammed Bob Vylan over the "death to the IDF" chants during their performance at the festival yesterday.
In a statement, festival organisers said they were "appalled" by the rap punk duo's actions during Saturday's set, which has since been pulled from BBC iPlayer.
Bobby Vylan led crowds on the festival's West Holts Stage in chants of: "Free, free Palestine" and: "Death, death to the IDF". Their performance ran just before that of controversial Irish group Kneecap.
Glastonbury Festival's statement said: "Their chants very much crossed a line and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence."
Glastonbury's comments came after Vylan was also criticised by the Israeli government on social media site X, formerly Twitter, over the incident - and urged the festival organisers to act.
The UK Embassy of Israel wrote: "The Embassy of Israel in the United Kingdom is deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival.
"Freedom of expression is a cornerstone of democracy. But when speech crosses into incitement, hatred, and advocacy of ethnic cleansing, it must be called out—especially when amplified by public figures on prominent platforms.
"Chants such as 'Death to the IDF,' and 'From the river to the sea' are slogans that advocate for the dismantling of the State of Israel and implicitly call for the elimination of Jewish self-determination.
"When such messages are delivered before tens of thousands of festivalgoers and met with applause, it raises serious concerns about the normalisation of extremist language and the glorification of violence.
"We call on Glastonbury Festival organisers, artists, and public leaders in the UK to denounce this rhetoric and reject of all forms of hatred."
Health Secretary Wes Streeting also blasted the antics, with the Labour MP warning that both the BBC and Glastonbury had "questions to answer". He went on to brand it a "pretty shameless publicity stunt".
He told Sky News' Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: 'I thought it's appalling, to be honest, and I think the BBC and Glastonbury have got questions to answer about how we saw such a spectacle on our screens.
"But I also think it's a pretty shameless publicity stunt, which I don't really want to give too much indulgence to for that reason." He said what people should be talking about in the context of Israel and Gaza is the humanitarian catastrophe.
He added: "The fact that we saw that chant at a music festival, when there were Israelis at a similar music festival who were kidnapped, murdered, raped, and in some cases still held captive."
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He also mentioned Israeli settlers attacking a Christian village this week and added: "Whether it's a Palestinian or an Israeli, whether it's a Christian, a Jew or a Muslim, all life is precious.
"All life is sacred. And I find it pretty revolting we've got to a state in this conflict where you're supposed to sort of cheer on one side or the other like it's a football team."
Asked if the BBC should have cut the live feed, he said the broadcaster has questions to answer, but that he did not know what the editorial and operational 'challenges' are of taking such action.
Meanwhile, the Israeli embassy said that it was "deeply disturbed" by the scenes on Saturday. Police are investigating the incident after a member of Bob Vylan was seen shouting out the phrase to the crowd, with videos of the moment circulating on the internet.
They had been performing on stage ahead of Irish act Kneecap, whose member Mo Chara as recently in court after brandishing a Hezbolla flag on stage during a gig, The Mirror reports.
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