Sharren Haskel, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, has called for BBC director general Tim Davie to resign if no one is held accountable for the broadcasting of a Glastonbury performance by rap duo Bob Vylan, in which the group led a chant of “death, death to the IDF.” The BBC aired the incident live and left the footage on its iPlayer streaming service for more than five hours before removing it.
Haskel made the remarks in an interview with The Telegraph’s Daily T podcast, demanding a formal investigation into the BBC’s editorial decisions. “If no one will be fired over such an outrageous thing,” she said, “then I think that Tim Davie should take responsibility and resign.”
The BBC has since apologised, stating: “The anti-Semitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves. We welcome Glastonbury’s condemnation of the performance.” A warning had been issued during the live stream about “very strong and discriminatory language,” but the BBC later admitted it “should have pulled the stream during the performance.”
Haskel rejected the apology as insufficient. “This is literally someone calling for violence, for ethnic cleansing, for the destruction and the annihilation of the only Jewish state in the world,” she said.
She also criticised the BBC for “fully biased” coverage of the Middle East and its approach to antisemitism in the UK, asking, “How is it possible that something like that has been normalised in the UK?”
The incident has triggered investigations by UK media regulator Ofcom and Avon and Somerset Police. Meanwhile, reports suggest the U.S. State Department is considering revoking frontman Pascal Robinson-Foster’s visa ahead of Bob Vylan’s upcoming U.S. tour.
