RSS
BBC Music Chief Steps Back from Duties After Glastonbury Live Stream of Rap Duo Bob Vylan Chanting ‘Death to IDF’
BBC headquarters in central London. Photo by Vuk Valcic / SOPA Images/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
The BBC’s Director of Music Lorna Clarke has reportedly stepped back from her day-to-day duties after the corporation apologized for streaming a live performance by the British punk rap duo Bob Vylan at the Glastonbury Festival, during which they lead the audience in chanting “Death to the IDF,” a reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
The BBC said on Thursday that a small number of senior staff members have been told to pull back from their daily duties covering music and live events after the BBC streamed Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury set in late June. Clarke is reportedly among that small group of senior staffers, The Times reported. According to the BBC’s website, Clarke is responsible for six national popular and classical music networks, as well as live music events, and has over 30 years of broadcasting experience.
Bob Vylan’s lead singer Pascal Robinson-Foster led the crowd in chanting, “Free, free Palestine” as well as “Death, death to the IDF,” during the duo’s Glastonbury set on June 28 at the event in Somerset, England. The performance was available to watch on BBC via a live stream on iPlayer.
Following the incident, Bob Vylan was removed from the lineup for England’s Radar Festival and France’s Kave Fest, their US visas were revoked ahead of their North America tour, and they were dropped by the United Talent Agency. Bob Vylan is also banned from opening for the US-based band Gogol Bordello in Germany later this year by the Live Music Hall venue, Rolling Stone reported.
BBC Chairman Samir Shah said in a statement on July 3 that the corporation was wrong for transmitting Bob Vylan’s anti-IDF exhortations.
“I’d like first of all to apologise to all our viewers and listeners and particularly the Jewish community for allowing the ‘artist’ Bob Vylan to express unconscionable antisemitic views live on the BBC,” he said. “This was unquestionably an error of judgment. I was very pleased to note that as soon as this came to the notice of [BBC Director-General] Tim Davie — who was on the Glastonbury site at the time visiting BBC staff — he took immediate action and instructed the team to withdraw the performance from on-demand coverage.”
“I am satisfied that the Executive is initiating a process to ensure proper accountability for those found to be responsible for the failings in this incident,” he added. “While it is important that the process is carried out fairly and correctly, it is equally important that the Executive takes decisive action. The Board fully supports the Director-General and the swift actions taken by him and his team to identify these errors and address them.”
In a separate statement, the BBC apologized for live streaming Bob Vylan’s “offensive and deplorable behavior.” The corporation insisted “there can be no place for antisemitism at, or on, the BBC” and admitted that “errors were made both in the lead-up to and during Bob Vylan’s appearance.” The BBC said it was taking action to “ensure proper accountability for those found to be responsible” for the broadcast.
The BBC also said Bob Vylan were one of seven Glastonbury acts considered “high risk” following a risk assessment process done ahead of the festival, but the duo was ultimately found suitable for live streaming “with appropriate mitigations.” The broadcaster said it would make “immediate changes to livestreaming music events” so that in the future “any music performances deemed high risk by the BBC will now not be broadcast live or streamed live.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the anti-IDF chant as “appalling hate speech.” Glastonbury head Emily Eavis and organizers of the event said in a joint statement that they were “appalled” by Bob Vylan’s behaviour at Glastonbury.
“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 antisemitism, hate speech, or incitement to violence,” they said. “Glastonbury Festival was created in 1970 as a place for people to come together and rejoice in music, the arts and the best of human endeavour. As a festival, we stand against all forms of war and terrorism. We will always believe in — and actively campaign for — hope, unity, peace and love.”
Bob Vylan shared a statement on Instagram further explaining their “Death to the IDF” chant. “We are not for the death of Jews, Arabs or any other race or group of people. We are for the dismantling of a violent military machine,” they wrote. “A machine whose own soldiers were told to use ‘unnecessary lethal force’ against innocent civilians waiting for aid. A machine that has destroyed much of Gaza. We, like those in the spotlight before us, are not the story. We are a distraction from the story. And whatever sanctions we receive will be a distraction.”
Bob Vylan performed at Glastonbury on the West Holts stage ahead of Kneecap, an Irish rap group that shared a “f–k Israel, free Palestine” message on stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April. A member of Kneecap has also been charged for allegedly expressing support for Hezbollah, which is a US- and UK-designated terrorist organization. During their own set at the Glastonbury Festival, Kneecap expressed support for Palestine and criticized the British and American governments.
The post BBC Music Chief Steps Back from Duties After Glastonbury Live Stream of Rap Duo Bob Vylan Chanting ‘Death to IDF’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Iran Says Eight Arrested for Suspected Links to Israel’s Mossad Spy Agency
The Mossad recruitment ad. Photo: Screenshot.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday they had arrested eight people suspected of trying to transmit the coordinates of sensitive sites and details about senior military figures to Israel’s Mossad, Iranian state media reported.
They are accused of having provided the information to the Mossad spy agency during Israel’s air war on Iran in June, when it attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and killed top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
A Guards statement alleged that the suspects had received specialized training from Mossad via online platforms. It said they were apprehended in northeastern Iran before carrying out their plans, and that materials for making launchers, bombs, explosives and booby traps had been seized.
State media reported earlier this month that Iranian police had arrested as many as 21,000 “suspects” during the 12-day war with Israel, though they did not say what these people had been suspected of doing.
Security forces conducted a campaign of widespread arrests and also stepped up their street presence during the brief war that ended in a US-brokered ceasefire.
Iran has executed at least eight people in recent months, including nuclear scientist Rouzbeh Vadi, hanged on August 9 for passing information to Israel about another scientist killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Human rights groups say Iran uses espionage charges and fast-tracked executions as tools for broader political repression.
RSS
Body of Idan Shtivi, Murdered on Oct. 7, Retrieved from Gaza in Special IDF Operation
Idan Shtivi. Photo: Courtesy of the family
i24 News – The body of Idan Shtivi, a 28-year-old murdered by Palestinian jihadists at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, was recovered in a joint operation by the IDF and Shin Bet in central Gaza, it was cleared for publication on Saturday.
Shtivi’s remains were returned to Israel alongside the body of Ilan Weiss, another hostage killed during the October 7 massacre.
“Idan Shtivi was abducted from the Tel Gama area and brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists after acting to rescue and evacuate others from the Nova music festival on October 7th, 2023. He was 28 years old at the time of his death,” read an IDF press release.
“Following an identification process conducted at the National Center for Forensic Medicine, along with the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate, the Hostages and Missing Persons Headquarters notified his family.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Shviti “was a gifted student of sustainability and governance, and a courageous individual” who acted heroically on October 7, helping others flee.
“He was killed in the process and his body was abducted to Gaza by Hamas. My wife and I send our heartfelt condolences to the Shtivi family. So far, 207 hostages have been returned, 148 of them alive. We will continue to act tirelessly and decisively to bring back all our hostages—living and deceased.”
RSS
Woman Stabbed at Ottawa Grocery Store in Latest Antisemitic Attack
A social media post by the alleged attacker, Joseph Rooke of Cornwall, Ontario. Photo: Screenshot via i24
i24 News – The stabbing of a Jewish woman at an Ottawa grocery by a man with a long history of antisemitic posts on social media, the latest antisemitic hate crime in Canada, sparked outrage and prompted condemnation from officials including the prime minister.
Both the victim and the attacker are in their 70s. The woman is reportedly in serious condition.
The suspect was identified as Joseph Rooke, who has authored a series of lengthy rambling screeds on social media, ranting against Israel and Jews.
“Judaism is the world’s oldest cult,” he writes in one post, going on to say “over time jews have become insidious in governments, businesses, media conglomerates, and educational institutions in order to do what they do better than anyone else. Jews are the world’s masters of propaganda, gaslighting, demonization, demagoguery, and outright lying. Using their collective wealth they have become masters of reprisal.”
“I am under no obligation whatsoever, legal, moral, or otherwise, to like jews and I do not. If that means I meet the jewish definition of an anti-semite, so be it.”
Canada has seen a steep spike in antisemitic attacks over the past two years, including a recent incident in Montreal where a Hasidic Jew was beaten in front on his children.
After Prime Minister Mark Carney condemned the incident, many, including former Israel’s ambassador the US Michael Oren, pointed out that Carney’s rhetoric and policies contribute to the increasing insecurity of Canada’s Jewish community through uncritical embrace of outrageous and easily disprovable allegations that Israel and its supporters were guilty of the worst crimes against humanity.