I heartily dislike the sort of music that ‘Bob Vylan’ produces: a combination of ‘punk, hip hop, grime, and hardcore’ according to Wikipedia; and I don’t approve of anyone wishing ‘death’ on anyone else. So I too am pretty appalled by Bob Vylan’s performance at Glastonbury the other day – chanting ‘death to the IDF’ – that has provoked criticism in many quarters overnight. That is even though many of the reported current – and literally deadly – actions of the Israel Defence Force in Gaza and elsewhere might be said to justify strong opinions from, for example, supporters of the Palestinians, and in any case must be regarded as more reprehensible than a crude lyric blurted out to a few thousand young fans in a field in Somerset (or is it Gloucestershire?), UK.

What it wasn’t, however – or wasn’t necessarily – is anti-semitic: ‘the airing of vile Jew-hate’, as the British Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis characterised it yesterday. When will the Jewish community recognise – as a very large proportion of it does: e.g. https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/ – that opposition to Israeli policies and actions in the occupied territories is not always a sign of Judenhetze, any more than criticism of Nazi atrocities in World War II was necessarily evidence of anti-Germanism? And that the powers-that-be in Israel, and their defenders in the diaspora, should not use that ‘vile’ accusation as a cover for Israel’s rulers’ misdeeds; which would still be misdeeds whoever was responsible for them.

The authorities – not only the Chief Rabbi – seem to be over-reacting here. Officially recategorising ‘Palestine Action’ as a ‘terrorist group’ is another current example. Spraying red paint over a fighter jet is not a ‘terrorist’ act. ‘Direct Action’ doesn’t usually kill people. – It’s really very simple. (Or have I missed something?)