Monday, June 30, 2025 - Israel has strongly criticised the BBC and Glastonbury Festival organisers for allowing pro-Palestinian punk duo Bob Vylan to chant "death to the IDF" during a live broadcast performance, accusing the broadcaster of airing antisemitic incitement.
The controversial moment occurred during the band’s set on
the West Holts Stage, where the lead singer also shouted “from the river to the
sea, Palestine will be free,” a phrase widely interpreted by Jewish communities
as a call for the destruction of Israel. Despite the provocative chants, the
BBC continued its live stream of the performance for a further 40 minutes
before taking it down from iPlayer.
Sharren Haskel, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, condemned
the BBC for broadcasting the remarks. “I condemn the BBC for continuing to
live-stream anti-Israel hate speech from Glastonbury,” she said. “What do you
think the BBC would have done had a performer been shouting anti-Muslim or
far-Right hate speech? They would have pulled the feed. But because the target
is Israel – let’s be honest, because it’s Jews – it’s tolerated, even
broadcast. This is clearly incitement.”
Israel’s Minister for Social Equality, May Golan, reacted
with similar outrage. “Perhaps someone should tell that anti-Semitic band what
happened to the hundreds of innocent people at Israel’s Nova music festival who
were murdered, raped, butchered, and kidnapped by savage monsters,” she said.
In the performance, frontman Bobby Vylan, addressing a crowd of around 30,000, said he had to be "careful" since the set was being aired live on the BBC. He proceeded to lead the crowd in a chant of “free free Palestine” before escalating it to “death death to the IDF.” He continued, “Hell, yeah, from the river to the sea Palestine must, will be, Inshallah, it will be free.”
The BBC later issued a statement acknowledging the offence
caused, saying: “Some of the comments made during Bob Vylan’s set were deeply
offensive. During this live stream on iPlayer, which reflected what was
happening on stage, a warning was issued on screen about the very strong and
discriminatory language. We have no plans to make the performance available on
demand.”
Bob Vylan also posted a photo on X after the performance,
showing one of the members eating vegan ice cream with the caption: “While
Zionists are crying on socials, I've just had a late night (vegan) ice cream.”
British politicians also weighed in. Health Secretary Wes
Streeting said, “I thought it was appalling, to be honest, and I think the BBC
and Glastonbury have got questions to answer. But I also think it's a pretty
shameless publicity stunt, which I don't really want to give too much
indulgence to.”
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party, labelled
the remarks “grotesque.” She added, “Glorifying violence against Jews isn't
edgy. The cultural establishment needs to wake up to the fact this isn't
protest, it's incitement.”
Danny Cohen, former BBC Television director, said the
incident marked “a very serious failure, and further evidence that BBC
management are blind to their responsibility to Britain's Jewish community.”
The performance came just before a set by the Irish group
Kneecap, which has also drawn controversy for its political messaging. Band
member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh is currently facing charges under the Terrorism Act
for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag and shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah”
during a previous performance in London.
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