Antisemitic incidents spiked after Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury set, charity says

KI Value/Getty ImagesPerformer Bobby Vylan throughout the controversial set at Glastonbury in JuneReports of antisemitic hate incidents within the UK spiked a day after punk duo Bob Vylan’s controversial Glastonbury efficiency, based on figures from a Jewish safety charity.Jewish communities are dealing with “excessive ranges of Jew-hatred”, the Neighborhood Safety Belief (CST) stated.The organisation, which displays antisemitism within the UK, stated a complete of 1,521 antisemitic incidents have been reported within the first half of 2025.It was the second-highest variety of its form reported to CST, however down by 1 / 4 from a document excessive within the first half of final yr.Responding to the findings, Dwelling Secretary Yvette Cooper stated antisemitic incidents and crimes “stay shamefully and persistently excessive”.There have been a minimum of 200 incidents each month within the first half of 2025, the CST stated. The report depends on figures from incidents which are self-reported.A median of 8.4 incidents per day have been reported within the first six months of the yr. The very best day by day whole of 26 got here on 29 June, the day after the efficiency by Bob Vylan on the Glastonbury pageant.Through the set, which was livestreamed on the BBC iPlayer, the punk duo led a chant of “loss of life, loss of life to the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]” and made different derogatory feedback.It prompted apologies from the BBC and Glastonbury and triggered an ongoing police investigation.The CST stated the incidents reported to the charity concerned anti-Jewish responses to occasions at Glastonbury in addition to to the CST’s subsequent assertion on social media, which branded the chants “completely chilling”.Through the set, singer Pascal Robinson-Foster, who performs below the stage identify Bobby Vylan, additionally made a speech a few document label boss he used to work for.That boss would “communicate very strongly about his help for Israel”, and had put his identify to a letter urging Glastonbury to cancel Irish-language rap trio Kneecap’s efficiency, the musician stated.The singer stated: “Who do I see on that record of names however that bald-headed [expletive] I used to work for? We have finished all of it, all proper – from working in bars to working for [expletive] Zionists.”After the media protection of their set, Bob Vylan stated in a press release: “We aren’t for the loss of life of Jews, Arabs or some other race or group of individuals. We’re for the dismantling of a violent navy machine.”The second-worst day for what the CST described as “anti-Jewish hate” was 17 Might, with 19 incidents, a day after Israel introduced an enlargement of its navy operation in Gaza.The CST stated: “Each of those instances illustrate how sentiment and rhetoric in direction of Israel and Zionism affect, form and drive up to date anti-Jewish discourse, on-line and offline, usually round totemic occasions that seize mainstream public consideration.”Simply over half (51%) of all incidents within the first half of this yr “referenced or have been linked to Israel, Palestine, the Hamas terror assault (of seven October 2023) or the next outbreak of battle”, the CST stated.Israel launched its navy offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas’s assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, by which about 1,200 individuals have been killed and 251 others taken to Gaza as hostages.Greater than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed because of Israel’s navy marketing campaign, based on the territory’s well being ministry.