English punk-rap duo Bob Vylan have defended their chants against the Israeli army during their performance at the Glastonbury festival.
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The duo received severe backlash after they raised “death to the IDF” chants at Glastonbury and asked the audience to do the same.
Following their performance, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Glastonbury organisers, and the BBC criticised them, while UK police also announced that they were considering launching an investigation into their performance.
British talent agency also subsequently dropped the rap duo and removed their page from its website.
The United States went as far as revoking their visas over what it called Bob Vylan’s “antisemitic” chants.
“The @StateDept has revoked the US visas for the members of the Bob Vylan band in light of their hateful tirade at Glastonbury, including leading the crowd in death chants. Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said in a post on X a day earlier.
However, the English punk-rap duo has said that they did not wish death upon people of any religion or race.
Read more: US revokes Bob Vylan’s visas after Glastonbury chants
“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 — 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,” Bob Vylan wrote in an Instagram post.
In their post, the English punk-rap duo maintained that they were “being targeted for speaking up” against the IDF’s actions in Gaza.
“We are a distraction from the story. And whatever sanctions we receive will be a distraction. The government doesn’t want us to ask why they remain silent in the face of this atrocity. To ask why they aren’t doing more to stop the killing. To feed the starving. The more time they talk about Bob Vylan, the less time they spend answering for their criminal inaction,” they added.