Wes Streeting condemns “death to IDF” chants at Glastonbury but says Israel “should get its own house in order”

29 June, 2025

Bob Vylan

Cabinet minister Wes Streeting has criticised the “death to the IDF” chants that broke out at Glastonbury 2025, but has also told the Israeli embassy to “get its own house in order”.

Punk duo Bob Vylan played the West Holts stage yesterday afternoon (June 28), ahead of Kneecap’s highly anticipated performance, which the BBC had confirmed earlier in the day would not be broadcast live.

Throughout the performance, political slogans were projected onto the screen behind them, including “Free Palestine – United Nations have called it a genocide – the BBC calls it a ‘conflict’”.

After the crowd broke out in multiple chants of “free, free Palestine”, frontman Bobby said, “Have you heard this one?”, before leading a chant of “death, death to the IDF”, referring to the Israeli Defense Forces.

Bobby also said: “We are not pacifist punks here over at Bob Vylan Enterprises,” referencing lyrics from their 2023 single ‘Censored (Interlude)’. “We are the violent punks, because sometimes you gotta get your message across with violence because that is the only language some people speak, unfortunately.”

The Health Secretary has now condemned the “appalling” chants, but also criticised the embassy over the conduct of some Israeli citizens in the occupied West Bank. Speaking on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Streeting said he believed the BBC and Glastonbury had “questions to answer” over what he deemed a “shameless publicity stunt”

“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 of Bob Vylan’s set.

“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.”

Per Sky News, he said focus should instead be turned on “Israeli settler terrorists” attacking a Christian village just weeks after setting it on fire. “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.”

Earlier today, the embassy said it was “deeply disturbed” by the anti-IDF chants, which are now being investigated by the police as the festival enters its third day. “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 read.

Streeting continued: “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.”

Israel has been carrying out a full-scale military campaign on occupied Gaza for almost two years, following the October 2023 attack by Hamas at the Israeli music festival Supernova where 1,195 people were killed.

The UN has found Israel’s military actions to be consistent with genocide, and at least 56,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. As the conflict continues to escalate, Israel continues to deny allegations of genocide and war crimes against the people of Palestine, in the wake of the October 7 attacks.

Glastonbury has issued its own statement on the Bob Vylan set, saying they were “appalled” by the chants.

“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,” it began. “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,” the statement continued.

It went on to say: “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.”

Bob Vylan’s set preceded Kneecap’s, which made headlines in the lead-up to the festival, after several MPs, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer, called on Glastonbury to pull the band from the line-up this weekend.

Glasto co-organiser Emily Eavis responded by saying “everyone is welcome”, and her father, festival founder Michael Eavis, added: “People that don’t agree with the politics of the event can go somewhere else!”

The controversy surrounding Kneecap’s set stems from their defiant pro-Palestinian remarks at Coachella in April. Since then, band member Mo Chara – real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – has been charged with a terror offence, for which he appeared in court last week.

Opening their set, Mo Chara declared: “Glastonbury, I’m a free man,” nodding to being given unconditional bail from his first appearance on his terror charge. Looking out at the sea of Palestinian flags being waved, he later wished the BBC editor “good luck” with editing them out of the footage.

They later thanked the “legend” who streamed their entire set on TikTok after it was omitted from the BBC‘s live coverage.

Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Glastonbury 2025.

The post Wes Streeting condemns “death to IDF” chants at Glastonbury but says Israel “should get its own house in order” appeared first on NME.