British police have launched a probe into comments made by the far-left rap-rock duo Bob Vylan at the Glastonbury music festival on Saturday, calling for the “death” of the Israeli Defense Forces.
Somerset Police said they are reviewing footage of performances by Caribbean-heritage artists Bob Vylan and Northern Ireland’s Kneecap hip-hop group.
“Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation,” the police force said.
One half of the rap-rock duo, who goes by the stage name Bobby Vylan, led the Glastonbury crowd in chants of “death, death to the IDF” (Israel Defense Forces) and “‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which denotes the elimination of the state of Israel and presumably the people there in.
Responding to the performance, which was aired nationwide on the BBC public broadcaster, the Israeli Embassy in the United Kingdom said that it was “deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival.
“Freedom of expression is a cornerstone of democracy. But when speech crosses into incitement, hatred, and advocacy of ethnic cleansing, it must be called out—especially when amplified by public figures on prominent platforms.”
The festival’s organisers also condemned the performance, saying: “Glastonbury Festival does not condone hate speech or incitement to violence of any kind from its performers.”
The Jamaican-heritage rapper, appearing before a sign reading “this country was built on the backs of immigrants,” also seemingly endorsed the demographic displacement of the British people. “Heard you want your country back? Hah, shut the fuck up,” he rapped on the Glastonbury stage.
In response, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage quipped: “If you vote Reform you can have your country back from these lunatics.”
His deputy, MP Richard Tice, added: “‘Kind and compassionate folk’ at Glastonbury chanting to kill Jews. Appalling antisemitism and racism. Against anyone else, this would have been national outrage with calls to arrest folk Two Two-tier justice under two-tier Keir. Silence from BBC etc.”
Britain’s left-wing Labour Party government said in a statement: “We strongly condemn the threatening comments made by Bob Vylan at Glastonbury.”
Number 10 also said that Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has spoken to the BBC, demanding an “urgent explanation about what due diligence” was done before deciding to air the performance on national television. The broadcaster said that a warning over “very strong and discriminatory language” was put on the screen, and the performance will not be available on the BBC iPlayer streaming service.
GLASTONBURY, ENGLAND – JUNE 28: Mo Chara, DJ Provaí and Móglaí Bap of Kneecap perform on the West Holts stage during day four of Glastonbury festival 2025 at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 28, 2025 in Glastonbury, England. Photo by Ki Price/WireImage)
Meanwhile, Glastonbury also hosted controversial Northern Irish hip hop group Kneecap, despite one of the members of the Belfast trio facing terror charges for allegedly waving a flag supporting the Islamist Hezbollah terrorist group.
During their performance on Saturday, Kneecap led the crowd in a chant of “free, free Palestine” while accusing the Jewish state of a “genocide”.
“We understand colonialism and we understand how important it is to support each other internationally,” Kneecap rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh said.
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