The Glastonbury Festival condemns the songs of “Free Palestine” and “Death to the IDF”

The Palestinian flags praised in the middle of the crowd in Glastonbury on Saturday while several artists in one of the biggest British music festivals led the public in songs that criticize the continuous military campaign of Israel in Gaza.

The English punk duo Bob Vylan was criticized after having seemed to encourage tens of thousands of public members to call “death” to Israeli defense forces. After songs of “free and free Palestine”, singer Bobby Vylan seemed to move to a different line: “Death, Death to the IDF”.

“From river to sea”, could be seen by Vylan by saying on shared video on social networks, “Palestine must be, will be, Inshallah, it will be free.”

Emily Eavis, co-organizer of the Glastonbury festival in southwest England, shared a statement On Sunday, the festival is “dismayed” by Vylan’s statements.

“Their songs have crossed a line a lot and we are urgently recalled all the people involved in the production of the festival that there is no place in Glastonbury for anti -Semitism, the speech of hatred or the incentive to violence,” wrote Eavis.

She wrote that the organizers oppose “all forms of war and terrorism” and will always plead for “hope, unity, peace and love”.

“With nearly 4,000 performances in Glastonbury 2025, there will inevitably be artists and speakers appearing on our stages whose opinions we do not share,” added Eavis, “and the presence of an interpreter here should never be considered as a tacit approval of their opinions and beliefs.”

The incident occurs while Israel’s criticism becomes stronger in the world, with a lot in the United Kingdom, in the United States and elsewhere Protestant against the Israel campaign in Gaza, where the The number of deaths exceeded 55,000According to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

The War of Israel-Hamas began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led a terrorist attack against southern Israel in which at least 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage, according to an Israeli count. Israel has promised to eliminate Hamas in response.

Israel was also Accused of war crimes by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry into the occupied Palestinian territory.

Saturday afternoon, police from Avon and Somerset quickly announced In a post That agents assess video evidence to “determine if offenses may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation”.

The BBC, which broadcast the festival, also said that some of Vylan’s comments on stage were “deeply offensive”.

“During this live flow on Iplayer, which reflected what was happening on stage, a warning was issued on the screen of the very strong and discriminatory language,” a spokesperson wrote in an email. “We do not intend to make performance available on demand.”

And in a statement Emitted by the Israeli Embassy in the United Kingdom, officials denounced the discourse which, according to them, “crosses the incentive, hatred and plea of ​​ethnic cleaning”. The embassy wrote that songs like “Death to the FDI” and “from the river to the sea” are sentences which “defend the dismantling of the State of Israel and implicitly call for the elimination of Jewish self -determination”.

“When such messages are delivered in front of tens of thousands of festival -goers and have encountered applause, this raises serious concerns about the normalization of extremist language and the glorification of violence,” wrote the embassy.

Bob Vylan did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

But the Punk group was not the only act to land in hot water for its driving at the festival. The North Irish rap trio – which has already aroused controversy for its pro -Palestinian opinions vocally – also criticized Israel during its set while encouraging the songs of “Free and Free Palestine”.

Last month, the British authorities accused the ball rapper my friend, whose real name and Liam O’hanna (or Liam óg ó Hannaidh), With a violation of terrorism After being accused of having displayed the flag of the militant group of Hezbollah. He appeared before the court earlier this month.

On Saturday, the group seemed to launch its set with a video compilation highlighting the terrorist charge as well as politicians criticizing Glastonbury’s decision to allow the ball joint to play, according to clips that circulated online.

“I don’t have to teach you the lesson. Israel are war criminals. It is a genocide F —– G,” O’Hhanna told the crowd. He also drew attention to the number of Palestinian flags in the public, adding: “BBC publishers will have work.”

He then called the crowd to join him in the song, stressing the “difference that it makes for people in Palestine when they see people on the other side of the world”.

The group too Drew Backlash earlier this year When he included pro-Palestinian and anti-Israelian messages in Coachella, where he posted a screen with the words: “F — Israel, Palestine Libre.”

“The Irish not so long ago were persecuted in the hands of the British, but we have never been bombed from … Heaven with nowhere where to go,” O’Hanna told Coachella during the group’s second performance. “The Palestinians have nowhere to go.”