BBC chiefs ‘should face charges’ over Glastonbury… Outrage led by Keir Starmer grows after broadcast of vile ‘death to Israeli soldiers’ chants
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BBC bosses should be prosecuted for broadcasting a vile anti-Semitic outburst at the Glastonbury festival, the Tory party said tonight.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the corporation ‘appears to have broken the law’ by transmitting a punk duo’s calls for the deaths of Israeli soldiers.
Top lawyer Lord Carlile said the BBC may have committed a criminal offence, while Sir Keir Starmer said the broadcaster had serious questions to answer.
The growing backlash comes after the BBC live-streamed Bob Vylan’s performance uninterrupted on its iPlayer site. It could now face an investigation into whether it has breached public-order laws.
Such are the implications of the chants that the US State Department is also reportedly gearing up to revoke the band’s visas ahead of a forthcoming tour.
During Saturday’s performance by the London-based pro-Palestinian duo, vocalist Bobby Vylan shouted ‘Death, death to the IDF’, the Israeli Defence Forces.
He followed the chant, which was repeated by the audience, with ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine… will be free’ – regarded by many Jews as a call for Israel’s elimination.
Broadcasting material calling for the death of an individual or group is an offence under the Public Order Act 1986. It carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
Bob Vylan crowdsurfs in front of the West Holts stage during day four of Glastonbury festival
His chants of ‘death, death to the IDF’ prompted calls for the band members to be arrested over claims they had incited violence
The entire episode was live-streamed on the BBC iPlayer. The corporation was lambasted for failing to cut the broadcast immediately after the anti-Semitic chanting
Detectives from Avon and Somerset Police, the force responsible for the policing of Glastonbury, are reviewing footage of the performance.
It is understood that BBC director-general Sir Tim Davie would have to bear ultimate responsibility if the Crown Prosecution Service decided to take the matter further.
Mr Philp said: ‘It looks clear that Bob Vylan were inciting violence and hatred.
‘They should be arrested and prosecuted – just like some of those who did the same during the riots last summer.
‘By broadcasting the duo’s vile hatred, the BBC appears to have also broken the law. I call on the police to urgently investigate and prosecute the BBC as well for broadcasting this.
‘Our national broadcaster should not be transmitting hateful material designed to incite violence and conflict.’
DailyWire this evening said the US State Department were looking to revoke the band’s visas.
A senior official reportedly told them: ‘As a reminder, under the Trump Administration, the U.S. government will not issue visas to any foreigner who supports terrorists.’
Bob Vylan’s entire performance was live-streamed on the BBC iPlayer but it has since been taken down
Despite the outrage Bobby Vylan, who performs pseudonymously alongside bandmate Bobbie Vylan, posted a photo of some ice cream as he mocked ‘Zionists crying on socials’
The BBC’s live stream shockingly continued for another 40 minutes until the end of Bob Vylan’s performance
Bobby Vylan also backed controversial Northern Irish band Kneecap, who were following them on the West Holts stage, by describing music executives who called for the group to be banned as ‘Zionists’
The punk duo have a twenty-city tour through the States lined up later in the year.
Bob Vylan were performing as a warm-up act for controversial Northern Irish rappers Kneecap – one of whose members is facing a terror charge for allegedly displaying a flag in support of the banned organisation Hezbollah.
Sir Keir said there was no excuse for Vylan’s ‘appalling’ hate speech.
‘I said that Kneecap should not be given a platform and that goes for any other performers making threats or inciting violence,’ he added.
‘The BBC needs to explain how these scenes came to be broadcast.’
Lord Carlile said people were free to make anti-Israel comments but when those comments spilled over into death threats, or something that sounded like death threats, the BBC had a responsibility not to broadcast unlawful material.
The KC, who served as the Government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation for ten years, added: ‘I would be interested to know whether the BBC took legal advice and, if so, what that legal advice was. I’m very troubled they may have broadcast unlawful material under section 22 of the Public Order Act.’
Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis said: ‘Their chants very much crossed a line and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for anti-Semitism, hate speech or incitement to violence.’
The broadcast plunged the BBC into a major crisis with Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy demanding ‘an urgent explanation’ from BBC director-general Tim Davie
Bob Vylan, who formed eight years ago in London, refuse to reveal their real names because of what they call the ‘surveillance state’
Glastonbury had said all were welcome at the festival but added it ‘does not condone hate speech or incitement to violence of any kind from its performers’
But lawyer Mark Lewis, who specialises in libel cases, said the apology had come too late. He added: ‘It is a bit rich that they try to lock the stable doors after the horse has bolted. Glastonbury was warned what was likely to happen and now it is likely there will be legal consequences.’
Former Tory culture secretary Nadine Dorries said the BBC had ‘serious questions to answer’, adding: ‘It is quite right that lawyers are asking whether the broadcasting of the chants made on the stage at Glastonbury have crossed the line into a criminal offence. Police should seek swift advice and take action immediately.’
Dame Priti Patel, former home secretary and current Shadow Foreign Secretary, added: ‘[The BBC] no longer hold the respectability to claim the mantle of our national broadcaster.’
Former Labour minister Lord Austin said: ‘This weekend Glastonbury was turned into a sickening hate rally, and chants for death were beamed into millions of homes by the BBC.
‘Tim Davie must now launch an urgent investigation and fire those found to be responsible. He must understand this is a very dark day for the corporation that calls its very purpose and future into question.’
Former director of BBC television Danny Cohen told The Daily Telegraph: ‘The police should investigate, as should the BBC’s board, led by chairman Samir Shah. How much longer can they tolerate the failings of BBC leadership on anti-Semitism and bias?’
A spokesman for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: ‘The BBC has surpassed even itself in endangering British Jews by airing this violent chanting.
‘We are formally complaining to the BBC over its outrageous decision not only to broadcast Bob Vylan’s calls for death and destruction, but also to place that segment on iPlayer along with Kneecap’s performance, which the BBC knew in advance that it should not air.
The singer, who keeps his identity secret, also led a chant of ‘free, free Palestine’, and declared ‘from the river to the sea Palestine… will be free’
Bob Vylan is the UK’s self-proclaimed ‘most violent boy band’ whose singer attended his first pro-Palestine protest at the age of 15 and whose music fuses punk, grime and hip hop
In another hugely embarrassing blow for the BBC, he also used the highly offensive c-word
‘Our national broadcaster must apologise for its dissemination of this extremist vitriol, and those responsible must be removed from their positions.
‘That includes Tim Davie… who has had more than enough chances to stop this abuse of licence fee payers’ money to platform bigots and extremists.’
Toby Young, president of the Free Speech Union, raised the case of childminder Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for tweets she made about deporting asylum seekers and burning down hotels housing them after the Southport killings of three girls at a dance studio. She is currently serving a 31-month sentence.
He added: ‘She caveated what she said by adding ‘for all I care’, whereas he [Vylan] clearly does care and wants every member of the IDF, which includes virtually the entire population of Israel, to be killed, so the case for prosecuting him is stronger. But to be clear, neither should be prosecuted.’
Bob Vylan’s performance was later removed from iPlayer.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘Some of the comments made during Bob Vylan’s set were deeply offensive.
‘During this live stream on iPlayer, which reflected what was happening on stage, a warning was issued on screen about the very strong and discriminatory language. We have no plans to make the performance available on demand.’
Avon and Somerset Police were approached for comment.
Meanwhile, Little Mix singer Jade led the Glastonbury crowd in chanting ‘f*** you’ towards the Reform Party during her performance on Saturday.
