UK police drop probe into Bob Vylan’s chants about Israeli military

British police have said they will take no further action over comments made by punk-rap duo Bob Vylan about the Israeli military during a performance at the Glastonbury music festival in June.

Avon and Somerset Police said on Tuesday that the remarks did not meet the criminal threshold required for prosecution “for any person to be prosecuted”.

During the performance, the group’s lead singer – Pascal Robinson-Foster, known by his stage name Bobby Vylan – led chants of “death, death” directed at the Israeli military over its genocidal war in Gaza.

Police said there was “insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction”. The force added that it interviewed a man in his mid-30s and contacted about 200 members of the public as part of the investigation.

The chant, which was livestreamed by the BBC as part of its Glastonbury coverage on June 28, prompted a widespread backlash. The broadcaster later apologised for transmitting what it described as “such offensive and deplorable behaviour”, and its complaints unit found the BBC had breached editorial guidelines.

Avon and Somerset Police said it had considered the intent behind the words, the wider context, relevant case law and freedom of expression issues before concluding the investigation.

“We believe it is right this matter was comprehensively investigated, every potential criminal offence was thoroughly considered, and we sought all the advice we could to ensure we made an informed decision,” the statement said.

“The comments made on Saturday 28 June drew widespread anger, proving that words have real-world consequences.”

Israel’s embassy reacted with disappointment to the decision, saying on X that “vile calls for violence, repeated openly and without remorse, continue to fall on deaf ears”.

It added that “failing to act only emboldens those who seek to harm Jews”.

In a statement posted to their X account on Wednessay, Bob Vylan said the criminal investigation had not been warranted in the first place, calling out the “scare tactics” used by “every arm that the British government has at its disposal” to silence support for Palestinians.

“While Palestinian people continue to be murdered at the hands of the IDF [the Israeli military], the British government has focused its attention on doing everything it can to stifle the voices of those opposing that murder,” they said.

After their Glastonbury appearance, Bob Vylan had said on Instagram that “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”.

Following the performance, the United States revoked the visas of Bob Vylan, forcing the cancellation of a planned US tour scheduled to begin in October.

Bob Vylan have launched defamation proceedings against Irish broadcaster RTE, alleging it falsely claimed they led anti-Semitic chants during the Glastonbury performance.

In July, the British police also dropped an investigation into the Irish-language rap group Kneecap after chants of “Free Palestine” during a performance.

Detectives sought advice from the Crown Prosecution Service and decided to take no further action, citing “insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction for any offence”.