Palestinian flags waved amid the crowd at Glastonbury, England, on Saturday as several performers at one of Britain’s biggest music festivals led the audience in chants criticizing Israel’s continued military campaign in Gaza.
The English punk duo Bob Vylan came under fire after it appeared to encourage tens of thousands of audience members to call for “death” to the Israel Defense Forces. Following chants of “Free, free Palestine,” singer Bobby Vylan appeared to switch to a different line: “Death, death to the IDF.”
“From the river to the sea,” Vylan could be seen saying on video shared across social media, “Palestine must be, will be, inshallah, it will be free.”
The BBC broadcast the moment live via its iPlayer streaming service and said in a statement Monday morning that it regretted not pulling the stream. Instead, it displayed an on-screen warning.
“The BBC respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence. The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves. We welcome Glastonbury’s condemnation of the performance,” the corporation said.
Emily Eavis, a co-organizer of the Glastonbury Festival in southwestern England, said in a statement Sunday that the festival is “appalled” by Vylan’s statements.
“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,” Eavis wrote.
She wrote that the organizers stand against “all forms of war and terrorism” and will always advocate for “hope, unity, peace and love.”
“With almost 4,000 performances at Glastonbury 2025, there will inevitably be artists and speakers appearing on our stages whose views we do not share,” Eavis added, “and a performer’s presence here should never be seen as a tacit endorsement of their opinions and beliefs.”
Criticism of Israel is growing louder around the world, with many in the U.K., the United States and elsewhere protesting Israel’s campaign in Gaza, where the death toll has surpassed 55,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas carried out a terrorist attack on southern Israel in which at least 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage, according to an Israeli tally. Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas in response.
The U.N. Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory has also accused Israel of war crimes.
Vylan, in a response shared on Instagram Sunday, wrote that he had received an influx of messages expressing both “support and hatred” while his daughter filled out a survey asking her opinions about school meals. He emphasized the importance of “teaching children to speak up for the change they want and need.”
“Let us display to them loudly and visibly the right thing to do when we want and need change,” Vylan wrote. “Let them see us marching in the streets, campaigning on ground level, organising online and shouting about it on any and every stage that we are offered.”
He captioned his post, “I said what I said.”
As the backlash rolled in Saturday afternoon, the Avon and Somerset police were quick to announce on X that officers are assessing video evidence to “determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation.”
And officials at the Israeli Embassy in the U.K. denounced the speech in a statement, saying it “crosses into incitement, hatred, and advocacy of ethnic cleansing.” The embassy wrote that chants like “Death to the IDF” and “From the river to the sea” are phrases that “advocate for the dismantling of the State of Israel and implicitly call for the elimination of Jewish self-determination.”
“When such messages are delivered before tens of thousands of festivalgoers and met with applause, it raises serious concerns about the normalization of extremist language and the glorification of violence,” the embassy wrote.
On Monday, the State Department banned Bob Vylan from performing in the United States. United Talent Agency also dropped the band as a client, NBC News has confirmed.
The punk group wasn’t the only act to land in hot water for its conduct at the festival. The Northern Irish rap trio Kneecap — which has stirred controversy before for its vocally pro-Palestinian views — also criticized Israel during its set while encouraging chants of “Free, free Palestine.”
Last month, British authorities charged Kneecap rapper Mo Chara, whose real name is Liam O’Hanna (or Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh), with a terrorism offense after he was accused of displaying the flag of the Hezbollah militant group. He appeared in court this month.
On Saturday, the band appeared to kick off its set with a video compilation highlighting the terrorism charge and politicians who criticized Glastonbury’s decision to allow it to play, according to clips that circulated online.
“I don’t have to lecture you people. Israel are war criminals. It’s a f—–g genocide,” O’Hanna told the crowd. He also called attention to the number of Palestinian flags in the audience, adding, “The BBC editors are gonna have some job.”
He then called on the crowd to join him in the chant, emphasizing the “difference it makes to people in Palestine when they see people from the other side of the world.”
The band also drew backlash this year when it included pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel messaging at Coachella, where it displayed a screen with the words: “F— Israel, Free Palestine.”
“The Irish not so long ago were persecuted at the hands of the Brits, but we were never bombed from the … skies with nowhere to go,” O’Hanna said during the band’s second weekend performance at Coachella. “The Palestinians have nowhere to go.”