Israel slams BBC for airing ‘death to IDF’ chant during Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury set

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 performanc 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.

Glastonbury Festival released a statement following the backlash, saying: “We are appalled by the actions of Bob Vylan during their performance. 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.”

Avon and Somerset Police confirmed they are reviewing video evidence. “We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon. Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation,” police said in a post on X.