The anti-Israel incitement at the Glastonbury music festival in the United Kingdom on Saturday continues to reverberate in British Jewish circles, whose leaders have passionately condemned the instigators and the BBC for airing thousands chanting “Death to the IDF.”
Ephraim Mirvis, chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, called the BBC’s live broadcast of punk duo Bob Vylan chanting and leading others to chant “Death to the IDF” at the site a “grotesque expression of mass hatred” and a “time of national shame,” urging immediate accountability.
A spokesperson for the BBC, which has pulled the segment off their streaming service, said producers should not have aired the chants by Bob Vylan, the stage name for a duo who individually go by the stage names Bobbie Vylan and Bobby Vylan.
The U.S. State Department has canceled visas for the duo’s planned U.S. tour in November, it said on Monday. Police in the United Kingdom are investigating them for disturbing public order. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned what he called “appalling hate speech.”
Bobby Vylan also shared on stage an anecdote from when he was working for a record label boss who told him he supported Israel, and who later signed a letter condemning the rap band Kneecap, whose singer Liam O’Hanna is standing trial for displaying a Hezbollah flag. Kneecap also performed at Glastonbury, though the BBC did not air their show.
“So look, we’ve done it all, all right? From working in bars to working for f**king Zionists. And if we can do this, I promise you, you can do absolutely anything that you put your mind to,” said Bobby Vylan.
His anecdote underlined claims by Bob Vylan’s critics that “IDF” and “Zionists” were substitutes for “Jews.”
Dave Rich, a researcher of antisemitism and for the Community Security Trust, British Jewry watchdog and security unit, told JNS the anecdote was “typical of the mindless hatred that characterizes this sort of politics.”
British Jews have become accustomed to what many of them view as antisemitism thinly veiled as hatred of Israel, especially after the surge in antisemitism that began after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But the events at Glastonbury, the country’s largest music festival, were shocking to many of them because its brand is associated with fine arts and summer leisure.
“It is utterly chilling to see such a huge crowd at Glastonbury Festival chanting for people to be killed. This was an expression of mass hatred, and Jewish people across the country will be horrified, as will many others,” CST wrote.