GLASTONBURY: A British punk-rap group faced growing criticism on Sunday for making anti-Israel remarks at the Glastonbury music festival that have sparked a police inquiry.
Bob Vylan led crowds in chants of “Death, death to the IDF,” a reference to the acronym for the Israeli military, during their set on Saturday.
British police officers are also examining comments by the Irish rap trio Kneecap, whose members have likewise been highly critical of Israel and its military campaign against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
One of Kneecap’s members wore a T-shirt dedicated to the Palestine Action Group, which is about to be banned under UK terror laws.
The UK government has “strongly condemned” Bob Vylan’s chants, which festival organizers said had “very much crossed a line.”
“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 festival said in a statement.
Avon and Somerset police said Saturday that video evidence would be assessed by officers “to determine whether any offenses may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation.”
Israeli embassy
The chants about Israel’s military, condemned by the Israeli embassy in London, were led by Bob Vylan’s frontman Bobby Vylan.
They were broadcast live on the BBC, which airs coverage of Britain’s most popular music festival.
“I thought it’s appalling, to be honest,” Wes Streeting, the Labour’s government’s health secretary, said of the chants, adding that “all life is sacred.”
“I think the BBC and Glastonbury have got questions to answer about how we saw such a spectacle on our screens,” he told Sky News.
The Israel embassy said in a statement late Saturday that “it was “deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival.”
But Streeting also took aim at the embassy, telling it to “get your own house in order.”
“I think there’s a serious point there by the Israeli embassy. I wish they’d take the violence of their own citizens toward Palestinians more seriously,” he said, citing Israeli settler violence in the West Bank.
A spokesperson for the BBC said Vylan’s comments were “deeply offensive” and the broadcaster had “no plans” to make the performance available on its on-demand service.
Festival-goer Joe McCabe, 31, told AFP that while he did not necessarily agree with Vylan’s statement, “I certainly think the message of questioning what’s going on there (in Gaza) is right.”
Chants of ‘Free Palestine’
Kneecap, which has made headlines in recent months with its pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel stance, also led crowds in chanting abuse against UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Starmer and other politicians had said the band should not perform after its member Liam O’Hanna, known by his stage name Mo Chara, was charged with a terror offense.
He appeared in court this month accused of having displayed a Hezbollah flag while saying “Up Hamas, Up Hezbollah” after a video resurfaced of a London concert last year.
The Iran-backed Lebanese force Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas are banned in the UK, and it is an offense to express support for them.
O’Hanna has denied the charge and told the Guardian newspaper in an interview published Friday that “it was a joke — we’re playing characters.”
Kneecap regularly lead crowds in chants of “Free Palestine” during its concerts, and fans revere them for their anti-establishment stance and criticism of British imperialism, while detractors call them extremists.
The group apologized this year after a 2023 video emerged appearing to show one singer calling for the death of British Conservative lawmakers.
UK govt condemns ‘death to the IDF’ chants at Glastonbury
https://arab.news/wgvhu
UK govt condemns ‘death to the IDF’ chants at Glastonbury
- Bob Vylan led crowds in chants of ‘Death, death to the IDF,’ a reference to the acronym for the Israeli military, during their set on Saturday
- They were broadcast live on the BBC, which airs coverage of Britain’s most popular music festival
Nowhere to pray as logs choke flood-hit Indonesian mosque
- Before the disaster, the mosque bustled with worshippers — locals and students alike — attending daily and Friday prayers
- Indonesia consistently ranks among the countries with the highest annual deforestation rates
ACEH TAMIANG, Indonesia: Almost two weeks on from devastating floods, Muslim worshippers in Indonesia’s Sumatra who gathered at their local mosque on Friday for prayers were blocked from entering by a huge pile of thousands of uprooted trees.
The deadly torrential rains had inundated vast tracts of rainforest nearby, leaving residents of the Darul Mukhlisin mosque and Islamic boarding school to search elsewhere for places of worship that had been less damaged.
“We have no idea where all this wood came from,” said Angga, 37, from the nearby village of Tanjung Karang.
Before the disaster, the mosque bustled with worshippers — locals and students alike — attending daily and Friday prayers.
“Now it’s impossible to use. The mosque used to stand near a river,” said Angga. “But the river is gone — it’s turned into dead land.”
Village residents told AFP the structure likely absorbed much of the impact of trees and logs carried by the torrents, preventing even greater destruction downstream.
When AFP visited the site, the mosque was still encircled by a massive heap of timber — a mix of uprooted trees and felled logs, likely from nearby forests.
By Friday, the death toll from one of northern Sumatra’s worst recent disasters — including in Aceh, where a tsunami wreaked havoc in 2004 — had reached 995 people, with 226 still missing and almost 890,000 displaced, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.
- Uncontrolled logging -
Authorities have blamed the scale of devastation partly on uncontrolled logging.
Environmentalists say widespread forest loss has worsened floods and landslides, stripping the land of tree cover that normally stabilizes soil and absorbs rainfall.
Indonesia consistently ranks among the countries with the highest annual deforestation rates.
President Prabowo Subianto, visiting Aceh Tamiang district on Friday, assured victims the government was working to restore normalcy.
“We know conditions are difficult, but we will overcome them together,” he said, urging residents to “stay alert and be careful.”
“I apologize for any shortcomings (but) we are working hard,” he said.
Addressing environmental concerns, Prabowo called for better forest protection.
“Trees must not be cut down indiscriminately,” he said.
“I ask local governments to stay vigilant, to monitor and safeguard our nature as best as possible.”
But frustrations were growing, with flood victims complaining about the pace of relief efforts.
Costs to rebuild after the disaster could run up to 51.82 trillion rupiah ($3.1 billion) and the Indonesian government has so far shrugged off suggestions that it call for international assistance.
Back in nearby Babo Village, Khairi Ramadhan, 37, said he planned to seek out another mosque for prayers.
“I’ll find one that wasn’t hit by the flood,” he said. “Maybe some have already been cleaned. I don’t want to dwell on sorrow anymore.”
