Glastonbury breaks silence on Bob Vylan 'Death to IDF' chant with furious statement

Glastonbury organisers have broken their silence on the actions of rap punk duo Bob Vylan on Saturday, declaring that they are "appalled".

During their performance on Saturday, rapper Bobby Vylan, of rap punk duo Bob Vylan, on Saturday 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's, during which a member of the rap trio suggested fans "start a riot" outside his bandmate's upcoming court appearance.

Festival bosses said in a statement: "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."

It comes after the chants were blasted by Health Secretary Wes Streeting and the Israeli embassy this morning, 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".

“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,” he told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.

“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.”

READ MORE: Glastonbury LIVE updates: Furious festival bosses break silence on Bob Vylan's 'Death to IDF' chants

He said what people should be talking about in the context of Israel and Gaza is the humanitarian catastrophe and the fact that Israeli settlers attacked a Christian village this week.

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, 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.

A statement from the embassy read: "The Embassy of Israel in the United Kingdom is deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival."

They continued to say that such slogans "advocate for the dismantling of the State of Israel", adding: "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."

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