What Bob Vylan Said at Glasto Took Guts — And He’s Not Wrong

Right, so when the BBC tried to dodge controversy at Glastonbury by censoring one band and airing another, they might as well have handed Bob Vylan the mic and said, “Go ahead, make it worse for us.” And he did — brilliantly. With a simple, explosive chant of saying “Death to the IDF.” Britain’s most sanitised institution accidentally live-streamed a statement too loud to ignore. But what has followed has been an Olympic-level display of political pearl-clutching, press gaslighting, and the British state bending over backwards to protect an army halfway across the world — not from missiles, but from music. But beneath the headlines, outrage, and police probes lies a bigger question: Why is calling for the end of a genocidal army – army you will note, not Jews, not Israelis, not people, but an institution - more scandalous than the genocide itself? And actually Bob Vylan’s words have raised a very valid point, because we know the IDF is anything but the world’s most moral army, and actually it has always has been like that and instead of shielding them from fault as those decrying Bob Vylan are attempting to do, we should talk about this far more, there’s very good reasons for doing so relevant to what we are seeing them doing in the here and now, as I’m going to explain.
Right, so first and foremost, caveat time, because there will always be people who twist words and this entire story is about truth twisting after all so just making it clear at the start, I absolutely am not supporting a call for the deaths of people – any people – at all, but then neither has the band in question here, despite claims being made to the contrary. When the dust settles on Glastonbury 2025, the biggest explosion won’t be remembered for the music but rather the political firestorm ignited by two acts: Kneecap and Bob Vylan. In the midst of Israel’s genocidal campaign, still ongoing against Gaza, the BBC’s curation of coverage from Britain’s biggest music festival was exposed as a tangle of cowardice, censorship, and contradiction. The broadcaster’s clumsy attempt to avoid controversy by refusing to air Kneecap’s pro-Palestinian set, only to platform Bob Vylan’s defiant cry of “Death to the IDF” live on air, has now sparked condemnation, police investigations, Zionist hysteria, and – most tellingly – a national conversation that the establishment desperately wanted to avoid.
To say that the BBC’s Glastonbury broadcast blew up in its face would be a polite understatement. But what has followed – the weaponisation of Bob Vylan’s words, the grotesque distortion of their meaning, and the abuse of state power to placate pro-Israel interests – demands far deeper scrutiny.
Kneecap were clearly targeted not because of any genuine threat, but because of the court case one of their members is involved in, Mo Chara holding up a Hezbollah flag, allegedly throw on stage during a performance, which he’d held up, not realising what it was, that’s his claim. Hezbollah being a proscribed organisation in the UK, illegal to show support for them as that means. On top of that the groups, Pro Palestine support and therefore the symbolism and solidarity their performance conveyed was also not something the BBC wished to show. The BBC’s decision to cut away from their West Holts stage set was not motivated by public safety, but public relations – specifically, a desire to avoid angering the pro-Israel lobby both outside and inside the BBC, various figures deemed too close to the Lobby and their funders in the Starmer government, which much the same can be said about. Despite Kneecap’s set not being broadcast live, it was later made available on demand. Yet, it was Bob Vylan’s performance – which was broadcast live – cut to, to avoid Kneecap hilariously as that turned out - that catapulted the issue into the national and international spotlight and has dropped the BBC in it with the Zionists anyway.
“Death to the IDF” – shouted with conviction by Bob Vylan – became an incendiary phrase immediately, calls for something to be done about this being amplified by those who wished to suppress criticism of Israel. Politicians across party lines, including Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, lined up to demand answers from the BBC. Police investigations have been opened into both performances. And Glastonbury’s own organisers issued statements condemning the political nature of the acts, despite that very notion never having been an issue at Glasto before. The BBC, in a grovelling attempt to appease its critics, removed Bob Vylan’s set from iPlayer and pledged not to make it available again, even as footage continues to circulate widely on social media.
The reaction to the phrase “Death to the IDF” is emblematic of a deeper malaise in our public discourse: the inability, or refusal, to separate criticism of a state’s military actions, this is the Israeli army we’re talking about here, an institution; from attacks on its people. It is deliberately misleading and is once again weaponisation of events by those who will do whatever it takes to defend Israel no matter what they do, even as they commit genocide. Bob Vylan did not say “Death to Jews.” They did not say “Death to Israelis.” They said “Death to the IDF” – an institution responsible for decades of ethnic cleansing, military occupation, and war crimes.
Let us be clear. The IDF is not a religious group. It is not an ethnicity. It is a military apparatus, funded, armed, and emboldened by a state, tasked with enforcing apartheid, colonial domination, and the brutal subjugation of Palestinians. To wish for the end of the IDF is to wish for the end of systemic violence and genocide therefore. The deliberate conflation of such criticism with antisemitism is not only false – it is a calculated tactic we’ve seen again and again to shut down dissent.
And nowhere has this tactic been more visible than in the treatment of a case that has been brough by the Hind Rajab Foundation. Back on 8 February, Hind Rajab Foundation, the Brussels based NGO bringing legal consequences to figures involved in Israeli atrocity, filed a formal complaint with the International Criminal Court against Brigadier General Yehuda Vach. The complaint, lodged under Articles 58 and 25 of the Rome Statute, accused Vach and his subordinates of establishing a premeditated “kill zone” in the Netzarim Corridor of Gaza. Civilians were reportedly targeted with sniper fire, drone strikes, and armoured patrols. Children were killed. Medics were executed. Homes and shelters were levelled with no regard for life or law and completely unnecessarily, it hadn’t actually been ordered, Vach is accused of acting as a law unto himself.
The complaint notes that Yehuda Vach operated with such impunity that even other Israeli soldiers expressed dismay at the recklessness of his orders. Yet, rather than being held to account, Vach remains a senior officer in the IDF. He is not an aberration. He is a perfect example of wht the IDF is.
Understanding Vach’s actions, as well as how the words of Bob Vylan can be justified, it is very much worth delving into some history here, notably the very origins of the IDF itself. The IDF was not born in a vacuum, but it did appear almost instantaneously. A national army created virtually overnight to defend a state that had literally just been created. Israel came into being on the 14th May 1948, the IDF sprang up on the 26th. How?
Well, it was the direct successor to a range of violent Zionist paramilitary groups operating under British Mandated Palestine, as Palestine was before it suddenly started to be called Israel instead and there are three key groups here: the Haganah, the Irgun, and the Lehi (Stern Gang). These organisations were not merely militias; they were terror groups by today’s definitions, responsible for massacres, bombings, and assassinations.
The Haganah, formed in 1920, initially styled itself as a defensive militia, tasked with protecting Jewish communities in Mandatory Palestine. However, by the 1930s and 1940s, it had grown into a large, well-organised military force with tens of thousands of fighters. It carried out numerous offensives against Palestinian villages and Arab resistance groups, especially during the Great Arab Revolt (1936–39), during which it worked closely with British forces. In 1947–48, the run-up to the creation of Israel, the Haganah was central to Plan Dalet, a military campaign aimed at securing territory for the Jewish state through expulsion and intimidation of the Arab population. If you think that sort of thing started with the Nakba, as if that was a singular event, think again. It led to the depopulation of hundreds of Palestinian villages and the mass displacement that was very much a part of what we now refer to as the Nakba. The Haganah also included an elite strike force, the Palmach, which pioneered tactics that remain in IDF doctrine today, including night raids, demolitions, and psychological warfare. Politically they were very much closely aligned with the Labour Zionist Movement, Mapai at that time, which happened to be led by a chap by the name of David Ben-Gurion, who of course became Israel’s first Prime Minister. In fact a number of Prime Ministers of Israel have links to these three groups. This group became the core of the IDF, it was the largest of the three paramilitaries and if you think they sound rotten enough, this groups was far and away the most lenient.
The next group is Irgun, or Etzel, who split from the Haganah in 1931 due to ideological differences. Whereas the Haganah maintained (at least publicly) a defensive posture, the Irgun championed direct, aggressive assaults. Guided by Revisionist Zionism, the belief that Jewish identity should be promoted through expansionism and the need for a Jewish majority – sound familiar? The Irgun adopted terrorism as a political strategy. Its most infamous act was the 1946 bombing of the King David Hotel, targeting the British administrative headquarters in Jerusalem and killing 91 people, including civilians, the Irgun hated Britain. But it also carried out attacks on Palestinian civilians, including in the Deir Yassin massacre in 1948, where over 100 villagers, including women and children, were murdered. The Irgun's legacy lives on in the IDF's ethos of overwhelming force and its readiness to target civilian infrastructure and populations under the guise of military necessity. Irgun's commander, was a chap called Menachem Begin, who later became Prime Minister, normalising the integration of such violent ideologies into Israeli governance. The Irgun were forcibly integrated into the IDF in 1948, during what was called the Altalena Affair, which saw now Prime Minister Ben-Gurion send his fledgling IDF as it then was up against Irgun, notably the shelling of the Irgun arms ship Altalena, after which they were assimilated into the IDF.
The third group, he Lehi, or Stern Gang, was the smallest but the very worst of the Zionist paramilitaries. Founded in 1940 by Avraham Stern, Lehi openly promoted fascism and viewed the British as the primary enemy, even during World War II. They actively sought alliances with the Axis powers, including Nazi Germany, in exchange for promises to support Jewish statehood. Lehi conducted assassinations, bombings, and kidnappings, targeting British officials, Arab civilians, and moderate Jews who opposed their methods. Stern actually wrote to Hitler at one point expression admiration. In 1944, they assassinated Lord Moyne, British Minister of State for the Middle East, in Cairo. In 1948, they assassinated Count Folke Bernadotte, the UN mediator trying to broker a ceasefire, for proposing the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Lehi's fusion of ideological extremism, racial supremacism, and political violence echoes in the IDF's treatment of Palestinians today, especially in targeted killings, extrajudicial executions, and the systemic dehumanisation of Gaza's population and so much of this can arguably be said to have gone beyond just the IDF, so much of this ethos and thinking permeates Israeli society too. Stern was shot dead in 1942, but Lehi persisted for several more years, another member of whom, as you might not be surprised to hear by this point, also became Prime Minister of Israel later, Yitzhak Shamir, but Lehi was finally disbanded 1948, when members of the group were then permitted to join the IDF.
When Israel declared independence, all three paramilitaries were either absorbed into or merged with the newly formed IDF. The Haganah formed its backbone. The Irgun and Lehi were pressured into disbanding and their fighters absorbed into formal military units. But their influence did not disappear – it became institutionalised. These three groups were the IDF, therefore their doctrines of asymmetrical warfare, ethnic cleansing disguised as security operations, and psychological terror campaigns all made their way into IDF strategy. From village clearances during the Nakba to the sniper corridors of Gaza in 2024, the IDF has never shaken its paramilitary roots, you can trace the activities of the Haganah, Irdun and Lehi through the IDF to this day in what they do.
Brigadier General Yehuda Vach is a modern manifestation of these roots. His tactics in Gaza mirror the village raids of the 1940s. His orders to kill civilians echo the brutality of Lehi and Irgun. His contempt for legal norms and international oversight reflects a foundational ethos that the supremacy of Zionist goals takes precedent over Palestinian life.
The BBC now stands accused of being more loyal to the Israel Lobby and the Starmer government than to truth, culture, or its own editorial independence. It censored Kneecap for their shout-out to Palestine Action. It broadcast Bob Vylan’s protest, then disavowed it. It apologised to Zionists before it ever defended artistic freedom.
As Al Jazeera and the Quds News Network reported, Glastonbury’s organisers quickly condemned the political content of both acts. Police have launched investigations. Pro-Zionist politicians lined up to attack the artists. Even Bob Vylan’s ticketing profile on myticket.co.uk has been deleted.
Yet still, Kneecap doubled down, calling out Keir Starmer directly and reminding their audience that protest is not terrorism, and that opposing genocide is not antisemitism.
Aside from the history I’ve just outlined, you can show the nonsense being peddled over Bob Vylan’s chant by exposing the hypocrisy on show too. For example Wes Streeting or whoever wailing about calling for “death to the IDF” is one thing, but how many politicians would make the same amount of outcry if , for example Bob Vylan had called for the death of the Taliban? Or the death of ISIS? This is the same thing. It’s another organisation guilty of conducting absolute atrocity against innocents is it not? Nobody would accuse someone of Islamophobia for denouncing those groups. But no. When it comes to the IDF suddenly this becomes hate speech.
The real problem is that Israel has enjoyed eight decades of impunity. Artists are condemned for opposing genocide, while musicians like David Draiman of Disturbed proudly sign Israeli bombs – and face zero criticism. Israelis shout “Death to Arabs” at football matches and concerts and nothing is made of that, yet it’s Bob Vylan’s critique of a military institution that causes panic and wailing and much pearl clutching.
Speaking of pearl-clutching, one example I have to make mention of cropped up on Twitter, when the Jewish Chronicle’s Jake Wallis Simons tweeted smugly that Bob Vylan would “soil his pants” or words to that effect if he ever met the IDF and I draw attention to it, because the answer from one wit, Karl Hansen, really captured the depravity of the moment, replying:
‘Why? Do the IDF have a reputation for doing unspeakable things to unarmed civilians or something?’
Well indeed, they do and as this clearly shows, more and more people are not only aware of it, but prepared to speak out on it now too, inspired by those using a platform to do so, to condemn those committing atrocities and seemingly getting away with it time after time.
And that is why “Death to the IDF” resonates. Not as a threat. But as a demand for justice.
Tens of thousands saw the performances live. Millions more have seen them since, especially in light of the fallout from it. And in their refusal to be silenced, Kneecap and Bob Vylan have accomplished what few artists can: they have told the truth, unapologetically, in the face of systemic power and if the law is now weaponised against them over it, that’ll get called out too.
It is not antisemitic to oppose genocide. It is not terrorism to shout “Free Palestine.” It is not incitement to call for the dismantling of an army that is not in any way moral, but is in fact built on ethnic cleansing and terrorism.
The real danger is silence. The real threat is the continued existence of a military machine whose founders in part at least idolised fascists, whose methods have not necessarily changed, and whose enablers still dictate the boundaries of acceptable speech in Britain.
Bob Vylan said what needed to be said.
And if that makes people uncomfortable, then good, because it should.
A further example of the IDF exemplifying the lessons of its own history is seemingly on daily show at so called aid hubs in Gaza where trying to get food could see the IDF end your life instead, as we’ve now seen going on for over a month, but now it seems you might also get drugged. Get all the details of that story in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch.
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