Wes Streeting says chants about IDF at Glastonbury festival ‘appalling'
Chants of death to the Israeli military at Glastonbury were 'appalling' and the BBC and the festival have questions to answer, Wes Streeting said, while adding that Israel needs to 'get its own house in order'.
The health secretary said the chanting should not have been broadcast to those watching at home, highlighting that Israelis at a similar music festival were kidnapped, murdered and raped.
'I thought it's 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 told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News.
'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.'
But he also had strong words for Israel, which has condemned the chanting.
Streeting said what people should be talking about in the context of Israel and Gaza is the humanitarian catastrophe and the fact that Israeli settlers attacked a Christian village this week.
'All life is sacred. And I find it pretty revolting we've got to a state in this conflict where you're supposed to sort of cheer on one side or the other like it's a football team,' he said.
Asked about the Israel embassy's response to the chants at Glastonbury, he said: 'Well, I'd say sort of two things in response to those words from the Israeli embassy. Firstly, I do think that if I take the equivalent of the war in Ukraine, I'm unequivocal about which side of that war I'm on. I want Ukraine to win. Would I be celebrating or chanting for the death of Russian soldiers? No, I want to see an end to the war, and I want to see an end to the conflict.
'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.'
Police are examining videos of comments made by the acts Bob Vylan and Kneecap at Glastonbury as the festival enters its third day.
On Saturday the rapper Bobby Vylan, of the rap punk duo Bob Vylan, led crowds at the festival's West Holts stage in chants of 'Free, free Palestine' and 'Death, death to the IDF' [Israeli Defence Force], before a member of the Irish rap trio Kneecap suggested fans 'start a riot' outside his bandmate's upcoming court appearance during their set on the same stage later in the afternoon.
Kneecap member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, known as Mo Chara, was charged with a terror offence for holding a Hezbollah flag at a London gig last November.
Ó hAnnaidh told the crowd on Saturday: 'Glastonbury I'm a free man! If anybody falls down, you've got to pick them up. We've got to keep each other safe.' He thanked the Eavis family, the festival's organisers, for 'holding strong' and allowing their performance to go ahead.
Avon and Somerset police said: 'We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts stage at Glastonbury festival this afternoon. Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation.'
Sign up to First Edition
Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters
after newsletter promotion
In response, the Israeli embassy said it was 'deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury festival'.
A statement on X said: '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.
'Chants such as 'Death to the IDF,' and 'From the river to the sea' are slogans that advocate for the dismantling of the state of Israel and implicitly call for the elimination of Jewish self-determination. When such messages are delivered before tens of thousands of festivalgoers and met with applause, it raises serious concerns about the normalisation of extremist language and the glorification of violence.
'We call on Glastonbury festival organisers, artists, and public leaders in the UK to denounce this rhetoric and reject of all forms of hatred.'
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative party leader, called the scenes 'grotesque', and said: 'Glorifying violence against Jews isn't edgy. The west is playing with fire if we allow this sort of behaviour to go unchecked.'
Asked about the controversy ahead of Kneecap's performance on Wednesday, Emily Eavis said: 'There have been a lot of really heated topics this year, but we remain a platform for many, many artists from all over the world and, you know, everyone is welcome here.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
36 minutes ago
- Times
Bridget Phillipson: I want more young people to have children
Labour has said it wants more young people to have children, warning that Britain's 'plummeting birth rate' is a danger to society. Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has raised the alarm about a younger generation who are 'thinking twice about starting a family' because of the rising cost of housing and childcare. She promised more help for young parents to make it easier for couples to have children, saying that 'families are the bedrock of our society and we need them to succeed'. Her comments signal growing political alarm about the UK's falling birth rate, which is down to 1.44 children per woman and in 2023 saw the fewest babies born for almost half a century. Phillipson raised the alarm over the trend, which means a future of fewer workers supporting a rising number of older people. • Britain needs babies but it will take some pushing Politicians have traditionally been wary of encouraging people to have more children, despite evidence that many couples have fewer babies than they would like. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, thrust the issue into the mainstream last month when he promised tax breaks and welfare changes to 'help young, working British people who are not on particularly big incomes to have more children'. Phillipson rejected his focus on marriage, saying 'no opposition party has the answers to our plummeting birth rate — a trend which has worrying repercussions for society but tells a story about the dashed dreams of many families'. Saying she wanted to give people the 'freedom to choose', Phillipson wrote in the Daily Telegraph: 'It's why I want more young people to have children, if they choose; to realise the ordinary aspiration so many share, to create the moments and memories that make our lives fulfilling: having children, seeing them take their first steps, dropping them off on their first day at school, guiding them on their journey into the world of work or taking them to university for the first time.' • Falling birthrate to leave UK reliant on immigration until 2100 Support for young children was 'my number one priority', Phillipson said, promising help with issues such as breastfeeding and reading, as well as an expansion of child care. Experts have pointed to evidence that making it easier or cheaper to have another child can be effective. Under the previous Labour government, Gordon Brown's working families tax credit, which gave extra cash to low-income families, is estimated to have led to an extra 45,000 babies being born.
The Independent
40 minutes ago
- The Independent
Kneecap avoid prosecution over ‘kill your MP' recording
Irish rap group Kneecap will not face charges for comments made in November 2023, where a member allegedly said "Kill your MP," as the statutory time limit for prosecution has expired. This investigation was separate from an ongoing charge against band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig last year, which he denies. Kneecap has stated they do not support Hamas or Hezbollah and have been vocal campaigners against Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The group performed at Glastonbury Festival, where they led chants against Keir Starmer and for a free Palestine, despite calls from politicians for their removal from the line-up. Avon and Somerset Police are currently assessing footage from Kneecap's and another act's Glastonbury performances to determine if any offences were committed.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Energy companies are not ripping you off
A week ago, the Government announced with great fanfare that 'millions more families' would get £150 off energy bills this winter. This sounds great. Unfortunately, what the Government failed to mention is who would pay for this. The answer is everyone else. The Warm Homes Discount (WHD) is one of several non-energy obligations placed on suppliers. Suppliers get a bad name, but they are forced to do a lot of things that have little to do with energy supply, and are given little money to do it. Meaning fewer resources to do the things people expect them to do well. Of course, some suppliers could and should do better, but it's worth thinking about the various spurious obligations they face and why they make little sense. Take the WHD. This is how it works: Step 1: the supplier must ask the Department for Work and Pensions which of its customers are eligible to receive the discount; Step 2: the supplier calculates the total cost of the discount; Step 3: the supplier adds the cost of the discount to the bills of all its customers that are not eligible to receive it, plus an admin fee. This is wealth redistribution, pure and simple. Suppliers take money from one group of customers in order to give it to another group. It is quite simply not the job of corporations to do this – if governments want to redistribute wealth, there already exists a tax-and-benefits process for this. Make no mistake, the WHD is a benefit for a small group of consumers and a tax on the rest, and with over 6 million homes expected to be eligible, the overall cost will be close to £1bn. Another non-energy obligation imposed on suppliers is the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) that requires suppliers to help their customers cut energy usage through home improvements such as better insulation. What, you may ask, do energy suppliers know about building and construction? The answer is that they have had to learn, hiring builders and other contractors to carry out home retrofits. The scheme costs over £1bn per year. And how is this paid for? Through bills. Suppliers impose a charge on their customers to pay for the scheme. Again, this is inefficient. There are already people who know about insulation and building standards. They are called local authorities and they supervise the planning and building control processes. If the government wants to reduce heat losses in homes, it should provide funding to local governments to supervise such schemes, rather than asking energy suppliers, whose job is to supply gas and electricity, to do it. Smart-meter installation is another unnecessary supplier burden. No other country in Europe expects suppliers to install network equipment. Network operators do it instead. But in the UK, suppliers are required to meet strict smart-meter installation targets, despite it being entirely voluntary for consumers to accept one or not. On top of this, successive governments have repeatedly told consumers that suppliers are greedy profiteers who cannot be trusted. And then they wonder why consumers are reluctant to allow them to install devices that could, were market rules to change, allow suppliers to restrict their energy usage, or charge them punitive amounts to use energy at various times of the day. Again, the costs – also estimated at around £1bn per year – are recovered through bills.
