Rap duo Bob Vylan led a chant of “Death to the IDF” during its performance at Glastonbury Festival on Saturday. Footage also shows a member of the duo addressing the audience: “We’ve done it all. From working in bars to working for f***ing Zionists.”

Footage also showed chanting of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” during the performance.

The group was performing as the supporting act for Kneecap, whose member, Liam O’Hanna, has been charged with displaying a flag in support of Hizballah, a proscribed terrorist organisation, at a concert at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town on 21st November last year. Footage of the concert in question appeared to show a member of the band, draped in a Hizballah flag, shouting to the crowd, “Up Hamas, up Hizballah.”

Several venues, including Eden Sessions and Plymouth Pavilions, dropped Kneecap from scheduled performances earlier this year, following calls by Campaign Against Antisemitism. We also wrote to Glastonbury Festival, calling for it to drop Kneecap from its line-up, but organisers did not respond.

During Kneecap’s performance at Glastonbury, one of its members said that fans should start a “riot” at Mr O’Hanna’s upcoming court hearing.

Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism, wrote for LBC that what Glastonbury shows is that harassing Jews has become cool again. You can read the full op-ed here.

It is understood that Avon and Somerset Police, in whose jurisdiction the Glastonbury Festival takes place, is reviewing footage of both Kneecap and Bob Vylan from the festival.

Bob Vylan has reportedly been dropped by UTA, its management agency, and US visas for an upcoming concert have reportedly been revoked.

We have led media coverage of this story, with appearances on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Channel 4 News and LBC and front page coverage in The Mail on Sunday, The Times and elsewhere.

The BBC also faced a strong backlash after it broadcast Bob Vylan’s chanting and published Kneecap’s performance on BBC iPlayer, its online streaming service.

In a statement issued on Monday, the BBC accepted that it should have done better, saying: “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. In light of this weekend, we will look at our guidance around live events so we can be sure teams are clear on when it is acceptable to keep output on air.”

On Sunday, a statement was published on Glastonbury Festival’s Instagram account, which read: “Glastonbury Festival was created in 1970 as a place for people to come together and rejoice in music, the arts and the best of human endeavour. 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.”

The reaction of some leading politicians has also failed to reassure. Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s comments on Sky News, responding to Israel’s entirely justifiable outrage — outrage shared by British Jews — at the chants for death and destruction at Glastonbury, were outrageous and telling. He chose to emphasise that the UK stands firmly behind Ukraine, before going on to draw a false comparison between Israel and Russia. Worse still, he added that he would 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.”

What are Jewish people, who view Hamas as a genocidal antisemitic terrorist organisation bent on their annihilation, supposed to make of a cabinet minister who seems to suggest that this Government is on the other side of this issue?

Bob Vylan and Kneecap were not the only acts at the festival which courted controversy relating to the Jewish community.

• Gary Lineker was also listed to speak at the festival; at the end of his session, he said: “Free Palestine.”
• Owen Jones, the columnist-activist who has previously claimed that Germany was “forcing” Palestinians to “pay” for the Holocaust, was also listed to give a talk titled, ‘Fighting injustice at home and genocide abroad’.
• Mr Jones was joined by Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) Director Ben Jamal. PSC is the main organiser of the regular Palestine marches in Britain. The protests have turned our urban centres into no-go zones for Jews.
• Francesca Nadin was also on the schedule. Ms Nadin is a member of the soon-to-be-proscribed Palestine Action, an extremist group of thugs which gained even more notoriety after it recently claimed the sabotage of two RAF planes.

Now in the UK, the chants are indistinguishable from the chants in Tehran, broadcast by our state broadcaster. Under Emily Eavis, Glastonbury has continued its headlong descent into a pit of extremism and hatred, but it is the behaviour of the BBC that is even more dangerous.

We are formally complaining to the BBC over its outrageous decision to broadcast Bob Vylan’s calls for death and destruction, and to place Kneecap’s performance on iPlayer.

Any artist claiming to be a humanitarian should be steering clear of Glastonbury, but more importantly, our national broadcaster must face repercussions for its dissemination of this extremist vitriol. Those responsible must be removed from their positions. That must inevitably include Tim Davie, the BBC’s Director-General, who has had more than enough chances to stop this abuse of licence fee payers’ money to platform bigots and extremists from Gaza to Glastonbury.

If this is not met with the firmest condemnation and recourse, then it is the surest sign yet that Britain is becoming a haven for hatred and unsafe for Jews.

Campaign Against Antisemitism is also writing to Glastonbury and the licensing authority regarding the events of this weekend.

We are asking Jewish attendees at Glastonbury to contact us at [email protected].

The last week for Palestine Action

Today, the Home Secretary laid an order before Parliament to ban Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000. The Commons is due to vote on the proscription on Wednesday and the Lords on Thursday.

In the meantime, we are not resting on our laurels. Having provided the Home Secretary with a detailed dossier on the group, making the case for proscription, we are also determined to ensure that the law is enforced.

Our Online Monitoring and Investigations Unit believes that it identified a Palestine Action member who encouraged the sabotage and criminal damage of vital UK military assets as Gamze Şanlı. We have reported her to Counter Terrorism Policing and brought her to the attention of the Ministry of Defence Police as well.

Our online investigators also uncovered a post by prominent Palestine Action activist Paul K Shortt that appears to glorify the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military unit of Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation.

We have reported Mr Shortt to Counter Terrorism Policing, and will look to bring a private prosecution if necessary to secure justice.

You can read more about Mr Shortt here.

As police arrest four people in Newbury, Berkshire, in connection with the sabotage of two RAF planes at a base in Brize Norton, suggestions by Oxfordshire and Home Office officials that Palestine Action could be funded by Iran is extremely serious. Palestine Action, however, is not letting up.

The group has reportedly launched a major recruitment drive just days before it is due to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation.

According to The Telegraph, Palestine Action is training its members – reportedly ranging from nursery teachers to surgeons and from clergy to academics, and aged 18 to 80 – on which British military targets to attack.

The “direct action workshop” comes after its activists claimed responsibility for the sabotage of two RAF planes at Brize Norton, an action that triggered the proscription announcement.

From one of its online meetings, The Telegraph has also disclosed details on advice to activists on utilising the legal aid system if they are arrested. They also reportedly discussed tactics at the meeting, including breaking into factories hitting “everything you can find with a sledgehammer”, as well as how to target military bases without detection.

For Palestine Action to seek to surge its membership and activity following a proscription should be regarded as an insult to law enforcement and a repudiation of British values of decency, law and order and respect for our armed forces.

The prospect of a network of autonomous cells using encrypted messaging platforms to conduct a wave of attacks on British military installations represents a dangerous escalation and, fundamentally, an attack on Britain.

There can no longer be any doubt that Palestine Action should be proscribed as a terrorist organisation. We even created a resource to explain why.

But does the British public agree? Elie went out onto the streets to ask.

Hamas’ law firm rebrands as ‘Riverway to the Sea’ and pledges ‘fight against Zionism’

Lawyers representing Hamas in its application for de-proscription as a terrorism organisation have rebranded their law firm from Riverway Law to Riverway to the Sea, presumably an allusion to the phrase ‘From the River to the Sea’.

According to our representative polling, 95% of British Jews consider the chant ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free’ to be an antisemitic call to destroy the Jewish state. Only 2% do not.

The firm now describes itself as “a legal and educational front against Zionism, apartheid, and genocide,” adding that “A new legal firm is being created to take this fight global.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism has already submitted complaints against several of these lawyers with their respective regulators, including solicitor Fahad Ansari. The Solicitors Regulation Authority has so far confirmed an investigation into Mr Ansari.

In an piece for the Law Society Gazette about the ‘Hamas case’ and its lawyers, our Chief Executive Gideon Falter writes: “Between the pro bono representation, media appearances and social media activity, it is hard to avoid wondering whether client approached lawyer or vice versa.”

You can read the piece in full here.

We will not tolerate the de-proscription of Hamas, and will fight in court if necessary. We will also continue to monitor the nefarious activities of the terrorist organisation’s lawyers.

Horrendous antisemitism detailed in Goldsmiths’ long-awaited report

Goldsmiths, University of London has published a long-awaited report following an independent inquiry into antisemitism at the institution.

Campaign Against Antisemitism previously made a submission to the inquiry.

The report affirms what the Jewish community has long known: Jewish students and staff have been suffering antisemitism at Goldsmiths and the University has failed in its duty of care to them, so much so that the Jewish Society had to dissolve for safety reasons. This is an appalling dereliction of duty.

Goldsmiths should be commended for launching this inquiry, and utterly shamed by its findings. The University must now accept that fundamental change is urgently required.

Sadly, this report does not go nearly far enough. It does not name culprits, nor does it recommend structural changes to disciplinary enforcement or oversight of the Students’ Union. It attempts to redefine antisemitism instead of using the International Definition of Antisemitism. If you cannot properly identify antisemitism, you cannot tackle it.

The report is far too reliant on and sensitive to the views of non-Jewish stakeholders, too many of whom may be motivated by a wish to ensure that their rhetoric and activism is not regarded as racist when in fact it is. It is outrageous that voices who have no regard for Jewish welfare should have had any input into an inquiry on antisemitism.

The particular irony for Goldsmiths is that it has one of the world’s foremost experts on antisemitism in its faculty. Its refusal to be guided by his own research demonstrates that this is an institution that puts ideology first. That is a difficult hurdle to overcome. Nevertheless, we will work with Goldsmiths and judge for ourselves how earnestly it seeks to change course.

The University must now, after years of allowing hatred to run rampant, prove that it understands how deep the problem of antisemitism goes and finally start uprooting it.

Become a Student Ambassador!

We are looking for Student Ambassadors for the coming academic year!

The Goldsmiths report is just the latest illustration of how the fight against antisemitism on campus is as urgent as ever.

If you are eligible or know somebody who is, visit antisemitism.org/become-a-student-ambassador for more information.

Let’s make a difference to campus life in the UK.

Help us expose.
Help us report.
Help us support.

Places are limited and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis so don’t wait to apply!

What is happening in our healthcare system?

Jewish doctors have said that they “fear for their safety” at the British Medical Association’s (BMA) annual conference, where 10% of the motions relate to Gaza – the only international conflict on the agenda at all.

A staggering 45 motions address the conflict in Gaza, with accusations of “apartheid” being levelled against the Jewish state and calls for boycotts of Israeli medical institutions and universities.

Our representative polling of the Jewish community has found that more than four-fifths (84%) of British Jews believe that boycotts of Israeli academics constitute intimidation, and 92% believe that claims that Israel is an apartheid state risk inflaming antisemitism.

The Jewish Medical Association, a key Jewish doctors group, said that Jewish doctors attending the BMA conference felt “intimidated, unsafe and excluded”, and that the union is no longer a safe place for them. The Jewish group requested additional security for its members attending their own union’s conference.

The conference came barely a week after the BMA was accused of ‘covering up’ a complaint relating to the Jewish community against its President, the GP Dr Mary McCarthy. An independent review decided that there was a case to answer, but the BMA then rejected the complaint because it had not been made by a member or employee of the union.

This state of affairs at the main medical union in Britain is intolerable. Both the medical sector and the trade union movement have forgotten their actual purpose – and Jews are suffering as a result.

The Co-op has stopped selling produce from the Jewish state

The Co-op supermarket chain has resolved to stop selling produce from Israel.

It is apt that this policy of boycotting the Jewish state was developed as part of a Co-op campaign titled ‘Hate Divides Communities’, because that is exactly what this policy is: hateful and divisive.

More than four-fifths (84%) of British Jews believe that boycotts of Israeli businesses selling Israeli products constitute intimidation, according to our representative polling.

Boycotts like this have real world effects on the Jewish community, as Jews know from centuries of such ostracism.

This is shameful from the Co-op, and its terrible reputation in the Jewish community is well earned.

Tens of thousands of young humanitarians at the country’s premier music festival chanting for “death”, in scenes reminiscent of mass rallies in Tehran or Sanaa, beamed into the homes of millions courtesy of our national broadcaster – which we are all forced to pay for.

There must be consequences for the expression and broadcast of such hate, and we will do whatever we can to hold those responsible to account.