Pro-Palestinian activism was front and center at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, where artists used the U.K.’s largest music stage to denounce what they called a “genocide” in Gaza before a crowd of 250,000.
Irish singer CMAT closed her Pyramid Stage set by telling the audience, “Thank you so much, have a great festival and free Palestine,” before leading a chant for Palestinian freedom.
Elijah Hewson, lead singer of Dublin band Inhaler and son of U2’s Bono, dedicated a song to “the people of Palestine” and “any innocent people being starved or bombed or genocided for the sake of some lunatics.”
“There’s no better place for freedom of expression than right here at Glastonbury,” Mr. Hewson told the crowd.
English punk duo Bob Vylan delivered one of the festival’s most forceful on-stage statements.
“We’re seeing the U.K. and U.S. being complicit in war crimes and genocide happening over there to the Palestinian people,” said one member of the pair, named Pascal Robinson-Foster.
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The performance escalated when the duo began a chant of “death to the IDF” (Israel Defense Forces), prompting festival organizers to release an apologetic statement Sunday.
“Their chants very much crossed a line, and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech, or incitement to violence,” wrote Emily Eavis, daughter of Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis.
Kneecap, an Irish rap group, joined in for the cause during their set.
“There’s no hiding it. Israel are war criminals. It’s a genocide. Free Palestine,” as dozens of Palestinian flags waved in the audience.
As of late June, officials from the Gaza Health Ministry report that 56,500 Palestinians have been killed during the conflict. More than 1,200 Israeli civilians and 860 soldiers have been killed since the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.
Jordan Stephens, of hip-hop duo Rizzle Kicks, also brought his mother on stage wearing a keffiyeh and waving a Palestinian flag, drawing cheers.
Chants and flags rippled across Glastonbury’s crowds throughout the weekend, as thousands of clips of pro-Palestine demonstrations flooded social media.
The British music festival, which has run for 54 years, concluded its 2025 lineup on Sunday.
