From moshpit to cesspit: Glastonbury descends into a sewer of racism

Many Israelis believe that Britain is a den of antisemitic iniquity.

Many American Jews believe the UK is on the road to a repeat of the violence of 1930s Germany.

Many evangelicals believe that Britain’s 300,000 Jews are about to be overwhelmed by the millions-strong Muslim community who have embraced Jihadism.

But while there has undoubtedly been an increase in antisemitism since October 7 and an intimidatory campaign shunning British Jews who identify with Israel, a probable majority of Jews would not recognise such simplistic claims of outsiders who do not actually live in the UK.

No doubt, the trauma of the last 18 months in Gaza and the trigger of the 12-day war with Iran has been a factor in the current external perception of the situation of Jews in the UK.

Even so, the events last week at the annual Glastonbury music festival will have stirred this brew of righteous indignation – and the outsiders would have been justified in their anger on this occasion. 

“Who do I see on that f**king list of names but that bald-headed c**t I used to f**king work for”... “So look, we’ve done it all, all right? From working in bars to working for fucking Zionists.”

The words of one member of the Bob Vylan duo, Pascal Robinson-Foster, from the stage at this year’s Glastonbury festival referred to a former boss who had signed a letter condemning Kneecap, a northern Irish hip-hop group, which had glorified Hamas and Hezbollah on stage. Such comments will have united all Jews in condemnation, regardless of their views.

However, it was Robinson-Foster's chant of “Death, death to the IDF” that caused outrage in Britain. It was a chant that was heard on the streets of Melbourne not long afterwards.

What was Robinson-Foster's intent? Was it an incitement to kill a member of the IDF, walking the streets of London? It is mainly Jewish Israelis who are conscripted into the IDF. Was it an intent to kill Jews per se and to immediately turn on Jews in the audience? These will be the questions any lawyer will ask in a future investigation.

This episode proclaimed Glastonbury to be, in reality, a cesspit of racism where Jews don’t count. It confirmed that the Eavis family, who have always organised the festival, have embraced opportunism and populism – the zeitgeist of 2025 came first, the music came second.

Many, including Michael Eavis, spoke about free speech – and how they were not going to be dictated to by “the establishment”. Through vehement public backlash, they now seem to have discovered that there are indeed boundaries to what can be said in public – and have beaten a hasty retreat.

A public statement was issued by Emily Eavis which expressed shock at Robinson-Foster's words. The festival, she said would not tolerate “hate speech or antisemitism”.

This year’s disaster followed the invitation extended to Jeremy Corbyn to speak from the Pyramid Stage in 2017. Corbyn told the Glastonbury audience: “Creativity together can be a tool for getting a message across, a message that racism is wrong, divisive and evil within our society. Racism in any form divides, weakens and denies us the skills and brilliance of people being discriminated against.” 

Michael Eavis self-evidently did not hear that part of the message. A practicing Methodist, Eavis had been aligned with the Labour Party but became disillusioned during the Blair-Brown years and left for the Greens, further to the left.

Eavis came of age during the 1950s as a member of the post-war generation which espoused many causes at a time when the British Empire became the British Commonwealth. The 1960s was a decade of wonderful music but also one of inspiring protest such as those against American involvement during the Vietnam war and after.

The genteel lack of awareness by the Eavis family at Glastonbury about the complexity in the Middle East was only matched by the disorganisation of the BBC. The live broadcast of the Vylan fiasco was supervised solely by music managers who clearly understood little about the Israel-Palestine imbroglio.

There was no political editor present who could have actually made an immediate decision. There was no delay function and no ability to switch to another stage at Glastonbury. It was undoubtedly an accident waiting to happen. Another occasion when the BBC has itself become the story.

According to reports in the press coverage of Glastonbury, CMAT and the Libertines happily shouted “Free Palestine” during their sets – while others such as Paloma Faith sported Palestinian flags or wore keffiyehs on stage.

What was striking was the belief in violence as a remedy by Vylan and others. No one said “Give peace a chance”– too much like the past, too old fashioned, too 1960s.

The profound ignorance was also striking. Kneecap’s very name brought back memories of the killings during the Troubles in Northern Ireland where kneecapping was standard practice. It also demeaned the Good Friday Agreement of 1997 which has brought safety and sanity to both Catholics and Protestants.

Kneecap’s Mo Ahara had already been charged by the Metropolitan Police after an incident in November 2024 at a London concert. His offence was the waving of a Hezbollah flag on stage. Regardless of whether it was legal or not, the members of Kneecap probably know little about Hezbollah except that it was in conflict with Israel.

Hezbollah understood the Jews of 2025 in the same light as those of the seventh century – those who opposed the Prophet. It named its Khaybar missiles after Mohammed’s victory over the Jewish community at Khaybar in the year 628.

Hezbollah was not only opposed to the existence of Israel, it did not care too much for Jews either. Most Israelis just happen to be Jews and that its hostility towards Israel can easily tip over into hatred of Jews worldwide per se.

The supporters of Kneecap and Vylan easily telescoped Palestinian Islamists into amorphous “Palestinians” and rebranded Hamas as “the Resistance”, all after a mass murder of hundreds of young people – ironically at a music festival in Israel similar to Glastonbury. In this, they have much in common with members of the sectarian Palestine Action group which cannot bring themselves to condemn Hamas.

The attacks on Gaza rightly affected many people at Glastonbury but it never occurred to the defenders of Palestinian civilians to make common cause with those Israelis and Jews who have long opposed the war and have continuously called for a ceasefire. Was it because they said that they were Zionists despite Netanyahu?

There were no calls for a return of the hostages, only the fluttering of solely Palestinian flags and the robotic chanting of “Free Palestine”. None considered what the fate of the remaining Jews might have been if Hamas had created a “Free Palestine”.

Eavis in this sense fitted in with the simple-mindedness of the far Left and its embrace of selective outrage where some causes are adopted and others which do not fit into their mindset are passed over in silence.

The Israeli Minister for the Diaspora, Amihai Chikli, and sections of the Israeli press deflected the argument by calling upon British Jews to save themselves and make aliyah. It is doubtful that many will heed the call. With Netanyahu in Israel and Trump in the United States, Britain appears today to be a veritable beacon of parliamentary democracy, the rule of law and moral behaviour in public life.

Indeed, an exasperated Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, immediately demanded an explanation from the BBC over its uninterrupted live coverage of Vylan’s racist homily, while Sir Keir Starmer said he was appalled at what had taken place at Glastonbury.

The police are now investigating Vylan’s performance, and the duo have been dropped by their agents.  And of course, the Trump Administration took note and revoked Bob Vylan’s visa to visit the US.

All this is a reflection of the chaotic times in which we are living. As Oliver Hardy put it inimitably to Stan Laurel in 1930: Another Fine Mess, Stanley.