News and Views 4th July 2025 

Glastonbury Festival

• Glastonbury’s lowest point. There was outrage earlier this week at the BBC’s decision to broadcast the ‘performance’ of punk duo Bob Vylan leading the crowd in chanting – ‘Death, death to the IDF’ and ‘From the river to the sea...’ at the Glastonbury music festival last weekend. Vylan also told a story about working for a “f***ing Zionist”. It was well-known that frontman Bobby Vylan had a troubling legal background and a documented history of anti-Zionist rhetoric. At a concert in Somerset a month before Glastonbury, Vylan allegedly called for “death to every single IDF soldier out there”. Vylan were known associates of Kneecap, one of whose band members had recently been charged with a terrorism offence for their "kill your MP" remarks. (those charges have since been dropped). To make matters worse, Glastonbury also hosted a scheduled talk by Palestine Action, a group recently proscribed by the UK government under anti-terrorism legislation. 
• BBC in the dock over Glastonbury coverage. Clearly, there was trouble waiting to happen – yet Glastonbury did nothing to ban the acts, and the BBC willingly broadcast Vylan’s death chants across the watching world. While the corporation eventually pulled the performance from iPlayer, it still appeared on that platform five hours after it was aired. It transpires that BBC director general, Tim Davie, was at Glastonbury when Vylan were on stage and that he was personally consulted over what to do about the performance. There have been repeated calls for his resignation. In fact, the BBC sent around 500 staff to Glastonbury in total - ranging from junior producers through to executives across its vast range of platforms, from BBC1 to Radio 1Xtra to its Asian network. It has even been reported that some BBC staff will be secretly 'pleased' over Vylan's controversial chants. Ofcom says the BBC “clearly has questions to answer”. 
• Chief rabbi decries ‘vile Jew-hatred’. Festival goers have said they cannot recall another single occasion when a crowd of that size chanted for anyone to be killed. One British Jew said, “I don’t think I have ever before felt so afraid for my future as a Jewish person living in Britain.” Meanwhile, Oi Va Voi, a band of Jewish heritage that plays Jewish and Israeli-themed music, has had their UK gigs cancelled simply because they have an Israeli singer. Pro-Palestine demonstrators on the streets of Leicester were led in a chant of “Death, death to the IDF” in a sick imitation of punk duo Vylan’s performance at Glastonbury. Many, including Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, have decried the UK’s two-tier criminal justice system, allowing Vylan to remain free of arrest for outbursts far worse than the tweets of, eg, Lucy Connolly, which got her jailed. UK Chief rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said “vile Jew-hatred” had been aired at the Somerset music festival and it was a “time of national shame”, adding “outright incitement to violence and hatred” appears to be acceptable if it’s couched as “edgy political commentary”. Bobby Vylan, meanwhile, has defended his stance, insisting that he is not “for the death of Jews, Arabs or any other race or group of people”, but rather, for the dismantling of what he terms "a violent military machine.”

Israel

• Outrage over Haaretz report. There is still considerable confusion regarding claims of shootings at aid distribution sites in Gaza. Controversy arose over a much-publicised report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which claimed that IDF officers and soldiers told them that the army had deliberately fired at Palestinians near the sites. Commanders are said to have ordered troops to shoot at crowds to drive them away or disperse them, even though it was clear they posed no threat. The US-based Israeli news outlet Algemeiner Journal has staunchly challenged the claims saying the Haaretz report relied on “mistranslation, selective quotes, factual omissions, and contradictions to construct a narrative of unprovoked Israeli violence.” Panic at aid distribution centres was the result of widespread fear of Hamas, it insisted, not the Israeli military. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also strongly rejected the report, calling the allegations "malicious falsehoods".
• Hamas systematically shoots at Palestinians seeking aid. There have been almost daily reports from medics, eyewitnesses and the Hamas-run health ministry of Israeli fire killing people seeking aid at these sites. More than 400 Palestinians are reported to have been killed and over 4,000 injured while seeking handouts of aid in the past 3 months. However, even the Palestinian Authority accepts that Hamas itself is systematically killing Gazan residents attempting to access food supplies under the false pretext of “collaboration” with American aid distribution centres, which it strongly disapproves of. Hamas is said to routinely carry out “acts of terror, propaganda, and psychological manipulation against civilians at aid sites”.
• Gaza Humanitarian Foundation denies involvement in shootings. The Israeli military has repeatedly admitted firing “warning shots” on “suspects” approaching its troops, recently adding that new instructions had been issued to Israeli forces following "lessons learned". Analysis published by Sky News on Thursday (3^rd July) suggests that aid distributions by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) are associated with a significant increase in deaths. An investigation by The Associated Press found that the GHF is using live ammunition and stun grenades as Palestinians scramble for food. A former security contractor for GHF told the BBC that he witnessed colleagues opening fire several times on Palestinians who had posed no threat, including with machine guns.  The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation launched an immediate investigation into the Associated Press report. It found that the allegations were categorically false but its full statement has been little-reported by the mainstream media. The GHF says it is taking legal action against the AP for false reporting.

Iran

• Iran cracks down further on dissidents. Since the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, Iran's authorities have intensified repression of their citizens, with more than 700 arrests, 10 executions and street checkpoints. Detainees are not given a fair trial, with no access to independent legal representation, and are often convicted on confessions obtained under torture. A bill was passed on 29 June which makes death the default sentence for almost any contact with Israel or other states considered to be the enemy. According to Open Doors, for Iranian Christians, “this already-hostile environment has become even more dangerous.”  

World Events

• The growing Islamification of Russia. A report by the RAIR Foundation claims that Russia – once considered the stronghold of Orthodox Christianity – is replacing globalism with state-backed Islamisation. In March, tens of thousands of Muslims flooded Moscow’s streets for Eid al-Fitr prayers – the government also providing infrastructure and protection. Putin has also criminalised Quran desecration - those convicted being forcibly relocated to Muslim-majority regions governed by de facto Sharia strongmen to serve their sentences, like Chechnya or Dagestan. In 2023, Putin’s administration formally launched a pilot programme for Sharia banking in four Russian republics: Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Chechnya, and Dagestan. Putin has also openly aligned with Pakistan and other member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a global Islamic bloc that pushes for Sharia blasphemy laws and the censorship of any speech critical of Islam throughout the world. 
• Christian to be released after 23 years on Pakistan's death row. 72-year-old Catholic and Bible scholar Anwar Kenneth was arrested in 2001 after the letters he wrote engaging in theological discussions with Muslim friends and religious leaders were deemed blasphemous towards Mohammed and the Quran. The following year, a Lahore court sentenced him to death. His acquittal comes after he was declared of unsound mind, and therefore could not be held liable for such a crime. Islamic legal groups “caused a ruckus” when the acquittal was announced, as it could have an impact on other highly dubious ‘blasphemy’ cases – which have surged in recent years, with 344 cases recorded in 2024.

Survive and Thrive

• English farms to be taken out of food production to boost nature. Some farms in England could be taken entirely out of food production under plans to make more space for nature, the environment secretary has said. Steve Reed said a revamp of post-Brexit farming subsidies and a new land use plan would be aimed at increasing food production in the most productive areas and decreasing or completely removing it in the least productive. In reality, this means many upland farmers may be incentivised to stop farming. Farmers also face upheaval with the announcement of an overhaul of the nature-friendly farming scheme, which pays farmers to do things such as leave wildflower borders for birds, plant hedgerows and reduce their use of pesticides. The budget for the scheme is to be cut by an average of £100m a year between this year and 2029.

Society and Politics

• Christian artist reported to police over gender-critical views. A Christian artist was reported to the police and banned from her own exhibition in 2023 because of her gender-critical beliefs. While setting up her independently funded exhibition at Watford Museum, Victoria Culf became engaged in a conversation with a council worker about transgender issues. Mrs Culf claims to have politely said that owing to her Christian beliefs and her experience working with children and young people, she believed ‘transitioning’ to be harmful and that “children are too young to properly assess risk”. Shortly after, she received a call from the council informing her of “harassment” allegations and decreeing that she must give 24 hours’ notice before entering her own exhibition. She claims a conspiracy of lies and undue pressure had been made against her. Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Mrs Culf launched legal action on nine grounds against Watford Borough Council. The Court has now granted her permission to amend her claim, with evidence confirming that the council official gave false information to his/her bosses.

Church Issues

• 700 inmates worship God in Oklahoma prison. A gospel outreach held outdoors at an Oklahoma prison last week, at which attendance of less than 200 was expected, saw more than 750 inmates participate, along with almost the entire prison staff. With the help of 32 volunteers, 1,000 hot meals were served, 700 Bibles were distributed, and 1,300 Bible study books were handed out. The church leader who led the gathering admitted he had to let go of the fear of being in the "middle of 751 prisoners with no handcuffs!" But he knew God called him to "preach the love of Jesus", and so he went round hugging them, shaking their hands and praying for them. Remarkably, over 400 raised their hands at the altar call to receive Christ as their saviour and 41 inmates were water baptised.