British Punk-Rap Duo Bob Vylan Calls for ‘Armed Resistance’ Against IDF, Shouts ‘Down With Israel’ During Spain Concert
by Shiryn Ghermezian
Bob Vylan music duo performance at Glastonbury Festival (Source: FLIKR)
British punk-rap duo Bob Vylan said during a recent concert in Torremolinos, Spain, that it supports “armed resistance” against the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), New York City Police Department (NYPD), and London Metropolitan Police.
The band’s lead singer Bobby Vylan, whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster, made the comments on stage during a performance at the Canela Party indie rock festival. Footage from his speech on stage was posted on Instagram by the account Celebrities4Palestine, and reshared by the band on its official Instagram page.
Bob Vylan’s lead vocalist began by telling the crowd that the London-based band is “pro-Palestine, and we do support the right to an armed resistance, because we ain’t no f–king pacifists. We ain’t the non-violent type because we understand that in dealing with tyrannical f–king governments, you need to be violent sometimes.”
His remarks were met with loud applause from the audience. The singer then went on to claim that governments around the world “will tell their populations not to be violent, not to encourage violence so that they can assert violence over you. So that they can act violently towards us.”
“That is why we see it from Palestine to f–king England to America,” he added. “We see these arms of the government, whether it be the IDF, whether it be the f–king London Met, whether it be the NYPD … We see them world over with their guns in our backs, their knees on our neck … So, we are for an armed resistance. We want to make that explicitly f–king clear.”
He ended his remarks by saying: “Down with Israel and the IDF, and free, free Palestine.”
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During their set at the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England, on June 28, Bob Vylan lead the audience in chanting “death to the IDF.” The performance was televised live by the BBC, which later apologized for live streaming Bob Vylan’s “offensive and deplorable behavior.” Festivals dropped Bob Vylan, and several of their concerts worldwide were canceled because of their anti-IDF comments at Glastonbury. The duo was also dropped from their talent agency and had their US visas revoked ahead of their American tour.
