Why those Glasto chants felt so personal to British Jews

When punk-rap duo Bob Vylan led the Glastonbury crowds in chants of ‘Death, death to the IDF’ on Saturday, it felt like a very personal attack on British Jews.

After all, you would be hard pressed to find a Jew in Britain who does not know someone who has served or is serving in the IDF (Israel Defence Forces). The Jewish world is small – the global Jewish population stands at just 15.7million, 7.2million of whom live in Israel. And if you live in Israel, military conscripted service for the IDF is mandatory for school leavers and for those who emigrate there (within certain age limits). So, if you have family members or friends in Israel then you will almost certainly know someone connected to the IDF. Indeed, I know at least two Israelis who were called up for reserve duty immediately following the pogrom on 7 October 2023, both fathers of young children.

I also know of the pain caused by the hatred that’s directed at the IDF. These are soldiers who are tasked with defending Israel from those who wish for its destruction. A good friend of mine almost lost her husband and the father of their two young children when a terrorist tried to stab him to death in 2018. What provoked the terrorist? Her husband was then serving as a reservist soldier on duty in the West Bank. Luckily, he managed to fight off his assailant and stem the wounds long enough for a medical team to reach him and save his life.

I’m just a middle-aged mum, so it should be no shock that I’d never heard of Bob Vylan until the Glastonbury controversy. In all honesty, I don’t care about frontman Pascal Robinson-Foster’s views on Israel or Jews. He’s just another celeb with a microphone and a weird obsession with the world’s only Jewish state. It was the response of the audience that was far more disturbing. Thanks to the good ol’ Beeb’s livestreamed hate, you could hear a Glastonbury crowd only too happy to chant along. Given the middle-aged make-up of that crowd, there were likely many parents there, too, happily calling for the death of teenage IDF soldiers.

How do they square these chants with their no doubt virtuous self-image? What kinds of valuable moral lessons do they think they will be able to offer their offspring when they get their kicks wishing death on a whole nation, while they take selfies and drink overpriced cider in a field?

They will claim that they were just attacking Israel’s military, not the Israeli nation itself. But they’re not fooling anyone. Without the IDF there is no Israel. If you bray and cheer for the death of those standing between Israel and those who want to annihilate it, then we know what that means – you want Israel to cease to exist.

In its ‘diversity statement’, Glastonbury claims to stand against ‘discrimination of any sort’, and states that it was ‘established to celebrate music, culture and togetherness’. That was not what was being celebrated on Saturday. A performer and a large crowd were celebrating the death of Jews.

Those chill Glasto hippies, the ‘cool’ mums and dads and the keffiyeh set might want to think about another music festival that took place less than two years ago, on 7 October. That was the occasion for another group to celebrate the death of Jews, in the form of a real-life massacre. Hamas terrorists raped and killed their way through the Nova music festival, murdering 378 Israelis and taking 44 hostage.

No doubt Glasto’s Israel haters will claim their chanting was a political protest for a progressive cause. But it wasn’t. Whether they realise it or not, they were wishing death on the families and friends of their fellow Brits. Shame on each and every one of them.

Naomi Firsht is a writer and co-author of The Parisians’ Guide to Cafés, Bars and Restaurants. Follow her on Twitter: @Naomi_theFirsht