A cabinet minister has criticised chants at Glastonbury calling for “death to the IDF” – but has also told the Israeli embassy to “get your own house in order”.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting condemned the chants against the Israel Defence Forces – calling them “appalling” – but notably also criticised the embassy over the conduct of some Israeli citizens in the occupied West Bank.
Glastonbury Festival has said it is “appalled” by the statements made by Bobby Vylan, of punk duo Bob Vylan, during their set on Saturday – saying they “crossed a line”.
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Speaking to Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Mr Streeting said he believed the BBC and Glastonbury had “questions to answer” over what he called a “shameless publicity stunt” during the set of Bob Vylan.
“I thought it was 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 said.
“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.”
He said the focus should instead be on “Israeli settler terrorists” attacking a Christian village just weeks after setting it on fire.
He added: “I’d also say to the Israeli embassy, get your own house in order, in terms of the conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank.
“So, you know, I think there’s a serious point there by the Israeli embassy, I take seriously. I wish they’d take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously.
“We all condemned and continue to condemn what happened on 7 October. We all want to see the return of the hostages. And there’s no justification for inciting violence against Israelis.
“But you know, the way in which Israel’s conducting this war has made it extremely difficult for Israel’s allies around the world to stand by and justify. In fact, we’ve got to do the opposite as an international community, which is to challenge and urge a change.”
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What’s the Glastonbury controversy?
The Israeli embassy said it was “deeply disturbed” by the anti-IDF chants, which are being investigated by the police.
Video shows one of the members of Bob Vylan shouting the slogan into the mic and some of the crowd joining in.
The duo were performing ahead of a performance by Kneecap, the Irish act the prime minister believed should have been banned from the world-famous festival.
“The Embassy of Israel in the United Kingdom is deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival,” a statement said.
It said slogans like Saturday’s chant “advocate for the dismantling of the State of Israel”.
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Police reviewing comments made by two acts at Glastonbury
The Conservatives also criticised the incident, with Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, saying she was “shocked” by the footage.
“I was shocked to see some of the footage of that chanting of the crowd,” she told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.
“And the music artist was ramping it up.
“I mean to me, also, one of the horrible things about it is, obviously it’s over a year and a half ago that innocent, festivalgoers at a festival in Israel were raped and murdered by Hamas – and then we have a music festival here in the UK where you have a chant saying death to the Israeli Armed Forces who are, you know, taking action to protect people from what Hamas did in Israel.
“I just think it’s disgusting.”
She added: “Yes, I believe in free speech, but that was incitement to violence. It was incitement to kill. That is not something that we support in this country.”
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An Instagram post published by the festival on Sunday morning read: “As a festival, we stand against all forms of war and terrorism. We will always believe in – and actively campaign 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, and a performer’s presence here should never be seen as a tacit endorsement of their opinions and beliefs.
“However, we are appalled by the statements made from the West Holts stage by Bob Vylan yesterday.
“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.”
