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Widespread Palestinian Support, Criticism of Israel Displayed at Glastonbury Festival in Britain
Revellers dance as they attend the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton near Glastonbury, Somerset, Britain, June 28, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
The legendary Glastonbury Festival that took place over the weekend in Britain included dozens of displays of Palestinian support, from paraphernalia to comments made by performers, and a number of instances that featured condemnation of Israel and false claims about the Jewish state’s military actions during the ongoing Gaza war.
This year’s Glastonbury Festival, which celebrates music and the arts, featured a “Palestine” stall that sold badges, stickers, bracelets, keychains, and magnets that said “Free Palestine,” “Free Gaza,” and “Boycott Israeli Apartheid.” Some of the items depicted the state of Israel being covered entirely by the Palestinian flag, which was widely displayed across the festival grounds besides dozens of Palestinian banners.
GLASTONBURY @glastonbury have allowed a “palestine” stall to sells badges depicting Israel being wiped out entirely and replaced with just the Palestine flag.@emilyeavis you wiped off Star of David’s from the M.Levine sign.
Care to explain this too?
@__jacker__ pic.twitter.com/LswpUK9rRP
— Kosher (@KosherCockney) June 28, 2024
During their set on Friday, the British rock band Idles called for a ceasefire in the ongoing Gaza war and the Irish folk band Lankum Dublin sang to the crowd, “You’ll never take possession of the rocks of Palestine.” Norwegian singer Aurora also dedicated her performance in part to the “children in Palestine.”
British-Albanian pop sensation Dua Lipa, who has a history of expressing pro-Palestinian views and criticizing Israel, headlined the main stage on Friday and walked into the audience during her performance, which many claim was an effort to get a nearby “Glasto for Palestine” flag in the camera shot. A video from Lipa’s performance also showed that some attendees carried LGBTQ rainbow flags with Stars of David and flags in honor of the victims of the Supernova music festival massacre near the singer.
Kudos to the one who waved 3 Nova flags and 1 Jewish Pride Flag right in front of Dua Lipa’s performance at Glastonbury music festival pic.twitter.com/XbxIyXPy8t
— Assaf Chriqui (@AssafChriqui) June 29, 2024
The Irish rap trio Kneecap — who pulled out of this year’s South by Southwest because one of its sponsors, the US Army, had ties to Israel — took to the stage at Glastonbury on Saturday. As part of their set, they displayed on large screens a “Free Palestine” message that falsely claimed “over 20,000 children have been murdered by Israel in 9 months” and that “it is being enabled by the British government.” They got encouraged fans to chant with them “Free, free Palestine.”
Some of the artists that performed at Glastonbury this year also wore Palestinian keffiyehs including Welsh singer Charlotte Church, who sang “free Palestine” multiple times during a performance on Friday when she joined Billy Bragg’s set. Also on Friday, Blur frontman Damon Albarn made a surprise appearance on stage during a performance by the indie band Bombay Bicycle Club and asked the crowd, “Are you pro-Palestine? Do you feel that it’s an unfair war?”
Throughout the five-day festival, which concluded on Sunday, there was no mention or reference on stage to the deadly massacre at the Supernova music festival that took place on Oct. 7 in southern Israel, where more than 300 people were murdered by Hamas terrorists and 40 others were taken as hostages.
Coldplay headlined the main stage at Glastonbury on Saturday and welcomed several surprise guests on stage, including Michael J Fox and Palestinian-Chilean singer Elyanna. During their set, the band’s lead singer Chris Martin stopped the music at one point and asked the 100,000-strong audience to send love to both Israel and “Palestine.”
“Just raise your hands like this and turn towards the main stage like this. Now, we’re gonna send a big Glastonbury love thing,” he said. “You can send it to anyone: you can send it to your grandmother, you can send it to Israel, you can send it to Palestine, you can send it to Myanmar. You can send it to Ukraine, you can send it to beautiful Russia. You can send it anywhere – you can send it all over the world from Glastonbury.”
He later thanked the crowd “for giving us and me restored faith that most humans can gather together very peacefully with all different flags, all different colors, all different genders, sexualities, ages, everything, and just sing and have a good time and ice cream, there’s no fighting, nothing like that.”
“So thank you for being inspiring to us,” he added. “And hopefully we’re sending all this out into the world all together as a beacon of togetherness in a time when it might seem like that’s impossible. You just proved that it is, so that’s amazing. Thank you.”
The post Widespread Palestinian Support, Criticism of Israel Displayed at Glastonbury Festival in Britain first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.