The virus of antisemitism was all over Glastonbury. Where is the Church?

A festival that claims to champion peace and progressivism became a stage for antisemitic chants, says David Hoffbrand, and too many Christians are looking the other way

The sickening double irony of what took place at Glastonbury on Saturday was not lost on Jewish people—or, I would hope, anyone with a conscience.

Firstly, the frontman of Bob Vylan was performing at a supposedly progressive and peaceful festival, when he chanted: “Death, death, to the IDF!” Incredibly, the audience cheered and chanted back, “Death to the IDF” like some dark, deranged cult.

Secondly, it was the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) who rushed to defend the innocent young people who were being murdered at the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023. Tragically, as we know, their response came too late for the 378 young Israelis who were slaughtered, raped, and mutilated by Hamas, with another 44 kidnapped. The worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Where was Bob Vylan’s solidarity with those young people? 

The IDF is not a symbol or a metaphor. It is composed of real young people, many still teenagers, performing mandatory military service, defending a nation surrounded by forces committed to its destruction. 

The antisemitism at Glastonbury was shocking, but it didn’t happen in a vacuum. It happened in a cultural atmosphere that has been primed by the silence, complicity, and false equivalences coming from many sources.

Yes, festival organiser Emily Eavis condemned the chant—but she had booked both Bob Vylan and Kneecap, despite their open support for Hamas. Would an act calling for violence against any other ethnic minority have been welcomed at Glastonbury?

The BBC didn’t pull the plug and has since admitted it should have. Keir Starmer also…