The Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit charity dedicated to the safety and security of Britain’s Jewish community, said there was a recorded rise in antisemitic incidents in the United Kingdom a day after the band’s Glastonbury performance.
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Bob Vylan Sues Irish Broadcaster RTE for Defamation Over Coverage of ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at Glastonbury
Bob Vylan lead singer Bobby Vylan. Photo: BANG Showbiz via Reuters Connect
The British punk-rap duo Bob Vylan filed defamation proceedings against Ireland’s national broadcaster on Tuesday over its coverage of their performance at the Glastonbury Festival in June, during which they led the audience in chanting “death, death to the IDF” in reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
The band is accusing RTE of defaming the group by claiming in a broadcast that the musicians led an antisemitic chant at the festival in Somerset, England, according to Phoenix Law Solicitors, the firm representing Bob Vylan. Allegations about the chant being antisemitic were “categorically denied” by the band and “entirely untrue,” the law firm said in a statement. It lodged legal proceedings at the high court in Dublin on behalf of the band, which is comprised of lead singer Pascal Robinson-Foster and drummer Wade Laurence George.
During their set at Glastonbury on June 28, Robinson-Foster, known by his stage name Bobby Vylan, led the audience in repeatedly chanting “death, death to the IDF.” The chant received widespread backlash, and British police launched an investigation into the band’s actions. Robinson-Foster has claimed several times that the chant was not antisemitic and said during a podcast interview in October that he does not regret making the anti-IDF remark.
Phoenix Law Solicitors claimed Bob Vylan “made statements expressing support for Palestinian self-determination and criticizing military actions” by the IDF. “At no point did their comments target Jewish people or express hatred towards any group,” the law first said in its statement. “The comments made were politically charged but not antisemitic in nature.”
Despite requests for a retraction and apology, RTÉ has “failed to address the harm caused” and so proceedings had been issued “to seek redress for the significant reputational and emotional damage” to Bob Vylan, said the firm. The band’s lawyers also claim RTE’s broadcast was widely circulated, “aggravating the impact on Bob Vylan’s reputation and professional standing.”
“Our clients are no stranger to utilizing their freedom of expression to speak out against the genocide in Gaza,” said Darragh Mackin, one of the firm’s solicitors. “There is however a fundamental distinction between speaking critically about the role of the Israeli state forces and being antisemitic. The former is speech within the confines of political expression, whereas the latter is a form of hatred directed toward Jewish people. At no stage have our clients ever engaged in conduct that is remotely antisemitic and to that end, have had no option but to seek the formal correction of same via the remedies available within this litigation.”
Bob Vylan’s “death to the IDF” chant was aired live by the BBC during its broadcast of the Glastonbury Festival. The BBC later apologized for airing “such offensive and deplorable behavior,” and its chairman, Samir Shah, separately apologized for allowing the band “to express unconscionable antisemitic views live on the BBC.”
Following Bob Vylan’s “death to the IDF” chant, the band was dropped from several music festivals, had their US visas revoked, and were let go by the talent agency UTA, which said the “antisemitic sentiments expressed by the group were utterly unacceptable.” The band’s anti-IDF comment was condemned by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called it “appalling hate speech,” as well as Jewish groups, the Israeli Embassy in London, and even Glastonbury organizers.
The Manchester Evening News recently paid a hefty sum in damages to Robinson-Foster after printing the false claim that he “performed Nazi salutes on stage” at a Bob Vylan concert in October. The British publication also printed a full correction and apology.
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Ukraine Has ‘Irrefutable’ Evidence of Russia Providing Intelligence to Iran, Zelenskiy Says
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (not pictured) and European Council President Antonio Costa (not pictured) on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 24, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
Ukraine‘s military intelligence has “irrefutable” evidence that Russia continues to provide intelligence to Iran, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after meeting the head of military intelligence.
“Russia is using its own signals intelligence and electronic intelligence capabilities, as well as part of the data obtained through cooperation with partners in the Middle East,” he said on X.
Kremlin last week dismissed a Wall Street Journal report that Russia was sharing satellite imagery and improved drone technology with Iran as “fake news.”
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Belgium Deploys Soldiers to Reinforce Security at Jewish Sites
Belgian army personnel patrol a street as part of a deployment of soldiers outside Jewish institutions in Antwerp and Brussels following attacks at Jewish sites in Belgium and other European countries, in Antwerp, Belgium, March 23, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
Soldiers were deployed on the streets of leading Belgian cities on Monday to bolster security for the Jewish community, after what officials said were antisemitic attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The move follows an explosion this month at a synagogue in Liege that authorities called an antisemitic act.
“From today we’re putting soldiers back on the streets in Brussels and Antwerp because safety is a basic right,” Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken said in a post on X on Monday.
The deployment, in collaboration with federal police, will provide security at Jewish sites including synagogues and schools, Belgian authorities said in a press release last week.
Antwerp “is again a little safer … the Jewish community too. We say NO to antisemitism!” Francken said on Monday.
The upgrade in security also follows an arson attack on a synagogue in Rotterdam and an explosion at a Jewish school in Amsterdam in neighbouring The Netherlands.
Dutch police have arrested five suspects, aged 17 to 19, over the synagogue attack in Rotterdam.
The US embassy in Oslo was also targeted in a bombing earlier this month branded by Norwegian investigators as an act of terrorism. None of the attacks caused injuries.
A Belgian defense ministry spokesperson said on Monday that soldiers would be deployed in three different phases: First in Brussels and Antwerp, later in Liege.
Rights advocates have raised concerns about possible attacks against Jewish communities around the world following the launch of the US and Israeli war with Iran. Four ambulances belonging to a Jewish community organisation in north London were set ablaze on Monday.
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Trump Puts Off Threat to Bomb Iran Power Grid; Tehran Denies Talks Taking Place
Streaks of light illuminate the sky during an interception attempt amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from Tel Aviv, Israel, March 23, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
US President Donald Trump said on Monday he had given orders to postpone for five days the attacks he had threatened against Iranian power plants, and said the US was in talks with Tehran about ending the US-Israeli war on Iran.
However, Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, mooted to be the leader representing Iran in contacts with the US, posted on social media that no talks had been held with the US.
As reciprocal airstrikes continued, financial markets had broadly welcomed the reports of efforts to negotiate an end to the war. Even after Qalibaf’s comments, the Brent crude oil benchmark was down around 8% to about $103 a barrel.
Iran has effectively closed the key Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows.
Trump wrote early in the US morning on his Truth Social platform that the US and Iran had had “very good and productive” conversations over the past two days about a “complete and total resolution of hostilities in the Middle East.”
OIL DROPS, STOCKS RECOVER ON PROSPECT OF PEACE TALKS
He later told reporters that his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who had been negotiating with Iran before the war, had had discussions with a top Iranian official into the evening on Sunday, and would continue on Monday.
“We have had very, very strong talks. We’ll see where they lead. We have major points of agreement, I would say, almost all points of agreement.”
“All I’m saying is, we are in the throes of a real possibility of making a deal,” he told reporters before departing Florida for Memphis.
He declined to say who the US was speaking to in Iran but said it was not Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who was wounded in the Israeli attack at the start of the war that killed his father and predecessor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to Washington.
“We’re dealing with the man who I believe is the most respected and the leader,” Trump said.
An unnamed Israeli official and a source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Qalibaf, increasingly influential, was representing Iran and that talks on ending the war could be held in Islamabad as soon as this week.
A reporter for the US news outlet Axios also said mediating countries, which he named as Egypt, Turkey, and Pakistan, were trying to convene an Iranian-US meeting in Islamabad this week including Witkoff, Kushner, and Vice President JD Vance.
Trump said he had spoken with Israel, which he said would be “very happy with what we have.”
Although Mojtaba Khamenei holds the ultimate authority in Iran, and the foreign ministry led past negotiations with the US, Iran experts say the realities of wartime decision-making have effectively shifted control to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which now exerts decisive influence over key areas including foreign policy.
A source briefed on Israel’s war plans said Washington had kept it informed of its contacts with Tehran, and that Israel was likely to follow Washington in suspending any targeting of Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on talks or on Washington’s decision to suspend strikes on some targets.
Global markets rose sharply, with US stocks up more than 2%.
On Saturday, Trump had warned that Iranian power plants would be destroyed if Tehran failed to “fully open” the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping within 48 hours. Trump set a deadline of around 7:44 pm EDT (2344 GMT) on Monday.
The IRGC threatened retaliation, saying it would attack Israel’s power plants and those supplying US bases if Trump followed through with his threat.
MARKETS AND ECONOMIES IN TURMOIL
Iranian media reported that they had on Monday attacked targets in Israel and US bases in the region.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in the war the US and Israel launched on Feb. 28, which has devastated Iran’s leadership and military capabilities while driving up fuel costs and accelerating global inflation fears.
However, the threat of strikes on Gulf electricity grids raised fears of mass disruption to desalination for drinking water, and further rattled oil markets.
While attacks on electricity could hurt Iran, they could be catastrophic for its Gulf neighbors, which consume around five times as much power per capita.
Electricity makes their gleaming desert cities habitable, in part by powering the desalination plants that produce 100% of the water consumed in Bahrain and Qatar. Such plants use seawater to meet more than 80% of drinking water needs in the United Arab Emirates, and 50% of the water supply in Saudi Arabia.
Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said the resulting energy crisis was worse than the two oil shocks of the 1970s and the gas shortage connected to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine put together.
Iran‘s Defense Council escalated its threatened retaliation on Monday, prior to Trump‘s delay, saying Tehran would cut all Gulf routes by laying sea mines if Trump followed through, state media reported.
The Israeli military said early on Monday it had begun its latest broad wave of strikes on infrastructure in Tehran.
Iranian news agencies said six people had been killed and 43 injured in strikes in the western city of Khorramabad.
The Iranian Red Crescent posted a video of a residential building in affluent northern Tehran with most of its facade destroyed and emergency staff rescuing someone on a stretcher from the upper floors.
Across the Gulf, the Saudi defense ministry said two ballistic missiles had been launched towards Riyadh. One was intercepted while the other fell in an uninhabited area.