Depravity in Glastonbury

It all started with a music festival in southern Israel where peace-loving teenagers spent the night under the stars and awoke to barbarians wishing them their final good morning.

What occurred on October 7, 2023 was unimaginable: the slaughter, beheading, and gangraping of kids—some even younger than the concertgoers, who lived in neighboring villages and were similarly attacked, ransacked and set on fire.

Allow that to sink in for a moment. It bears mindboggling contemplation. This form of inhumanity is not easily absorbed.

Who would do such things? And who would learn of such things and feel nothing? Millions around the Western world were unable to summon the human impulses necessary to direct proper moral outrage at Gaza and sympathy for the nation it invaded so monstrously.

Nothing Israel had ever done could possibly justify such an otherworldly assault. Those claiming to be pro-Palestinian held signs suggesting that the massacre was “necessary resistance.” Really, beheadings and the gangraping of teenagers? These are “progressives”?

Soon thereafter, Israel’s justified retaliation was assiduously scrutinized and roundly condemned. Meanwhile, Hamas showed neither remorse nor any indication that they were finished with their attack upon the Jewish state.

In fact, despite Israel’s superior fighting force, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the vast majority of Gazans vowed repeat performances of October 7—“again and again.” They continued launching rockets at civilian population centers. Israeli and American hostages were held captive in underground terrorist lairs. Palestinian terrorists, often assisted by their own “civilians,” refused to release them.

All the while, antisemites in Western nations tore down posters intended to remind the world of those hostages. Their perilous situation did not matter. Returning them to safety was seen as superfluous. Given the world’s hatred of the Jewish state, they were paying the price for Israel’s very existence.

One would think that if there was any solidarity with the victims of the Nova Music Festival, it would come from college-aged students who also enjoy attending musical concerts. But the opposite proved to be true: the most ardent supporters of Hamas were found on college campuses, in the audience at concerts and performing on musical stages.

American teenagers were actually rooting for the terrorists who murdered and raped Israeli teenagers—not religious zealots or West Bank settlers, but people just like these teens! In a fatal musical twist, youthful Hamas and Hezbollah flag-bearers attend concerts to be serenaded by bands that have incorporated Jew-hatred into their set lists. It gives altogether new meaning to having a bullet attached to a band’s Billboard ranking.

In a fatal musical twist, youthful Hamas and Hezbollah flag-bearers attend concerts to be serenaded by bands that have incorporated Jew-hatred into their set lists. It gives altogether new meaning to having a bullet attached to a band’s Billboard ranking.

At this year’s Glastonbury Festival in the United Kingdom, which has hosted the biggest acts in contemporary music at their annual summer concert series since 1970, two bands played to the cheap seats where they found many antisemitic fans willing to sing along. Kneecap and Bob Vylan each treated audiences to pro-Hamas harmonies and anti-Israel incitement.

The British punk-rap duo, Bob Vylan, held microphones toward the audience to pump up the volume on, “Death, death to the IDF!” and “Free, free Palestine!” Palestinian flags were aplenty. One of the bandmates shouted, “Hell yeah, from the river to the sea. Palestine must be, will be inshallah, it will be free.”

About 20 minutes into the set of another band, Kneecap, an Irish rap group with an even more ignominious pro-Hamas history, one of its bandmembers interrupted the show to remind the audience of the band’s ravenous hatred of Jews.

“I don’t have to lecture you people,” he said to the assembled tens of thousands. “Israel are war criminals!”

This same rapper is already facing terrorism charges for holding a Hezbollah flag while onstage at a show in London. He topped off one of his songs with, “Up Hamas! Up Hezbollah!” Hezbollah is a banned terrorist organization in the United Kingdom. Displaying its symbols is a crime.

In April at Coachella, the annual concert series in southern California, Kneecap showcased “F— Israel, free Palestine” on a big screen to thunderous applause. Supporting terror was suddenly part of their act. Everyone was now on notice what to expect onstage as a sidenote to the music.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews urged Glastonbury Festival organizers not to give Kneecap a platform to spread their odious messages. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer felt similarly that it was “not appropriate” for Kneecap to perform.

They were right, but the Glastonbury Festival refused to kneecap Kneecap. Its frontman instructed fans to mob the legal proceedings on the terrorism charge in London and “start a riot” outside the courthouse.

Palestinians always manage to attract such charming people to their cause.

These antisemitic antics at Coachella, London and Glastonbury came with consequences, however. Kneecap lost its United States booking agent. Visas for future entry into the United States have been revoked. The State Department advised, “The secretary of state has been clear – the U.S. will not approve visas for terrorist sympathizers.” Kneecap has a 21-day American tour scheduled for the fall. They will have to reapply for those visas. Such pleas from this Jew-hating band will probably — one hopes — fall on deaf ears.

Already, festivals and venues have scratched the band from their lineups. Bob Vylan’s American tour has been scrapped, too.

Undeterred, Kneecap released a statement proving that the fighting Irish nowadays only raise their fisticuffs for Israel.

“Since our statements at Coachella — exposing the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people — we have faced a coordinated smear campaign. … They weaponize false accusations of antisemitism to distract, confuse, and provide cover for genocide.”

Meanwhile, the police have launched criminal investigations against both Bob Vylan and Kneecap for their Glastonbury “performances.” Campaign Against Antisemitism, a nonprofit, is accusing the Glastonbury organizers of breaching its license by knowingly allowing such inflammatory incitements on its stage.

The BBC, which aired the Glastonbury Festival live, issued a statement: “The BBC respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence. The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable.” Prime Minister Starmer called the words “appalling hate speech.”

One thing is for certain: Hamas supporters—whether in the United States or the United Kingdom, whether on college campuses or at large concert venues—believe that inciting hatred against Jews is a simple matter of free speech. Whether Jews should live or die is merely a matter of opinion, a point to be openly debated—whether on placards or through musical soundboards.

October 7 was the world’s first pogrom where music reverberated in the ears of its young victims. Israel’s very own “American Pie.” Today’s lyrics calling for the death of Jews will forever recall that fateful date when the music died.