Bob Vylan performing on the West Holts stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset, June 28, 2025
BOB VYLAN have hit back at being “targeted for speaking up” after police began an investigation into comments made during their set at the Glastonbury Festival.
The punk rap duo prompted Establishment outrage by leading chants of “Death, death to the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]” during a live-streamed performance at the Somerset music festival on Saturday afternoon.
The BBC apologised after the set at the West Holts Stage was live-streamed, on Monday claiming the chants were “anti-semitic sentiments” and “unacceptable.”
Bobby Vylan, one half of the British duo, also led his audience in chants that included “Free, free Palestine.”
Posting a statement on Instagram on Tuesday, the group said: “The government doesn’t want us to ask why they remain silent in the face of this atrocity?
“To ask why they aren’t doing more to stop the killing? To feed the starving?
“The more time they talk about Bob Vylan, the less time they spend answering for their criminal inaction.
“We are being targeted for speaking up. We are not the first, we will not be the last, and if you care for the sanctity of human life and freedom of speech, we urge you to speak up too.”
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Vote Labour for Genocide.UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Palestine Action activists blockade the entrance to Elbit Systems in Bristol, July 1, 2025
‘Protests against genocide are not the problem in our society — it is the government’s complicity with genocide’ that is, campaigners say
UNITED NATIONS experts urged Britain not to misuse terrorism laws to proscribe Palestine Action, branding the plans the “unjustified labelling of a political protest movement as ‘terrorist’” ahead of an emergency protest outside Parliament tonight.
Hours after the non-violent activist group blockaded the entrance to an Israeli defence company’s British headquarters today, the UN-appointed human rights experts said: “According to international standards, acts of protest that damage property, but are not intended to kill or injure people, should not be treated as terrorism.
“These offences would criminalise legitimate activities by innocent members of the group that do not contribute in any way to property damage by other members, let alone ‘terrorism’ which, if properly defined, the group has not committed.”
It comes as pro-Palestine and democracy activists were urged to defend the right to protest outside Parliament at 6pm on Wednesday, as MPs debate the government legislation to ban the campaign group under anti-terror law.
Amnesty UK’s CEO Sacha Deshmukh said that the motion would be a “grave misuse of anti-terrorism powers” in a letter to MPs and peers today.
The laws “have long been criticised by international experts for containing problematic, overly broad and draconian restrictions on free speech in relation to proscribed groups,” which would mean that “simple expressions of personal moral opinions” will potentially become “serious crimes,” he warned.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Vote Labour for Genocide.UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Keir “I support Zionism without Qualification” Starmer supporting genocide.
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Aid trucks sent by the United Nations under Israeli attacks enter the Zakim border crossing under the protection of Palestinians and reached the warehouses in the north of in Gaza City, Gaza, on June 25, 2025. [Saeed M. M. T. Jaras – Anadolu Agency]
The UN said Monday that Israel must facilitate access and entry of essential supplies into Gaza through available crossing points to address people’s “urgent needs,” Anadolu reports.
“Civilians must be respected, and they must be protected,” said spokesperson Stephane Dujarric during a daily press briefing, emphasizing the need for “full, safe, and sustained humanitarian access in accordance with humanitarian principles.”
He said the World Food Program (WFP) reports that one in five people in Gaza faces “catastrophic levels of hunger” due to heavy constraints on humanitarian operations.
“Given the heavy constraints on bringing in supplies and carrying out humanitarian operations across Gaza, people are going hungry,” Dujarric said, adding that tons of food have been prepared in the region and are ready to serve people in Gaza “if increased access is granted.”
He said that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “alarmed” over new evacuation orders issued by Israeli authorities in northern Gaza, “which have once again displaced tens of thousands of people.”
“People are being pushed into overcrowded areas where thousands of others are already staying. These spaces lack shelter. They lack water, they lack sewage systems, not to mention medical facilities,” Dujarric said.
– Fuel ban threatens critical services
Dujarric called on Israeli authorities to allow fuel entry into Gaza for life-saving operations, including hospitals, desalination plants, sanitation equipment, and telecommunications.
“If the ban on fuel continues, more of these critical services will shut down soon, and in some areas very soon,” he warned.
The spokesperson said fuel powers community kitchens, which are essential for feeding Gaza’s population, and allows cargo to move between locations.
Dujarric said Guterres also “condemns” continued civilian casualties from Israeli attacks and “welcomes” continued mediation efforts for a permanent ceasefire.
Despite international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has killed more than 56,500 Palestinians in a deadly onslaught in the Gaza Strip since October 2023.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Vote Labour for Genocide.UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Bob Vylan performing on the West Holts Stage, during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset, June 28, 2025
ARE concessions to coax MPs into voting for cruel social security cuts a sign that the Starmer government is listening and learning?
…
The Prime Minister demands an explanation from the public broadcaster for failing to suppress footage of crowds chanting in solidarity with Palestine at a music festival. The organisers of a peaceful demonstration in January are up in court next week for alleged breaches of police restrictions by laying flowers in memory of Gaza’s dead children in the road. The police are reviewing footage of the Glastonbury crowds, trying to sniff out behaviour they can prosecute someone for.
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The BBC, falling over itself to make amends for failing to meet Starmer’s censorship preferences, smears the singer Bobby Vylan, accusing him of “anti-semitic sentiments” for leading chants of “Death to the IDF” (Israel Defence Forces).
But to denounce an army is not to denounce a race. And given serving IDF soldiers revealed in the Israeli press just last week that the IDF is actually ordering its troops to fire into unarmed crowds of Palestinians gathering to collect food from its tightly controlled aid centres — a sick “hunger games” scenario in which over 500 Palestinians have already been gunned down — it’s understandable that feelings against this genocidal military are running high. Anyone who thinks Vylan’s chants are more “appalling” (the PM’s term) than the government’s continuing supply of arms and intelligence to facilitate mass murder has their priorities wrong.
The gravity of Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s proposed Palestine Action ban cannot be overestimated. To try to head off any potential opposition by MPs, she has lumped the direct-action group with two neonazi formations, the Maniac Murder Cult and the Russian Imperial Movement, in a single banning order.
To label a group terrorist for splashing paint on military aircraft is an outrage, one that as others have noted would define as terrorist some of Britain’s best known historical protest movements, from the Greenham Common women to the Suffragettes.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWREUK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Bob Vylan performing on the West Holts stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset, June 28, 2025
