radiofree.asia

Bob Vylan isn’t the story. Genocidal fascists screaming ‘death to Arabs’ (and then killing them) is.

We know the Western mainstream media are on Israel’s side in its settler-colonial genocide of Palestinians. But following Bob Vylan’s anti-genocide chants at Glastonbury, they barely even pretended to be professionals. And they definitely didn’t include, for balance, the “popular Israeli slogan” calling for the murder of a whole ethnic group: “Death to Arabs”. And they certainly didn’t highlight that Israeli soldiers have long carried out this promise, killing as many people in Palestine and beyond as they can get away with.

Bob Vylan is not the story. The heinous war crimes of the IDF are.

Bob Vylan has long spoken up for Palestine and other victims of Israeli aggression, especially during the ongoing genocide, and Glastonbury was no exception.

Bob Vylan’s frontman chanted “death, death to the IDF”, referring to the Israeli occupation army currently committing genocide in Gaza. He has clarified that he doesn’t regret his words.

The Mail, however, twisted this on its front page to make it look like the chant referred to all Israelis – not just the ones engaging in heinous war crimes:

The Spectator sought to paint it as antisemitic, an assertion that was antisemitic itself for ridiculously suggesting Jewish people and the actions of the Israeli state are somehow the same.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, meanwhile, took this even further, suggesting he had been “glorifying violence against Jews”. But as one community note put it, the “religious makeup” of the IDF is irrelevant. It is an organisation which has been openly terrorising civilians, so there is genuine, justifiable anger against it:

There are many Israelis, meanwhile, who have refused to serve in the IDF or to help it continue its genocide in Gaza:

There are also IDF members who have openly spoken about its genocidal crimes:

Israeli soldiers themselves have been flaunting their crimes on social media (and even dating apps). There is a massive video database. This is on top of crimes like bombing hospitals, cutting electricity, or assassinating media workers. The video footage isn’t just in occupied Gaza either. It’s in the occupied West Bank too. It’s a clear pattern of proud self-documentation from the occupying power.

“Death to Arabs”, and Dua Lipa, Mia Khalifa, Bella Hadid etc.

Where Bob Vylan called out a genocidal army, the fascists supporting that army love calling for the death of a whole ethnic group which spans 22 countries. An annual hate march takes place on Jerusalem Day in Israel, and large groups of people chant “death to the Arabs”, “may their villages burn”, and other criminal slogans.

Israeli judges have let off Israeli terrorists who’ve attacked Palestinians while saying “Death to Arabs”. In the US, senator has said “I think we should kill ’em all” when talking about Palestinians. Western counter-protests have seen pro-Israel forces chanting “death to Arabs”. Israeli football hooligans in Europe have also chanted “death to Arabs”. And when a Jewish terrorist in the US tried to murder Israeli Jews because he thought they were Palestinians, one of the victims responded (thinking the gunman was a Palestinian) by saying “Death to Arabs”.

An Israeli song calling for the deaths of anti-genocide celebrities Dua Lipa, Mia Khalifa, and Bella Hadid, meanwhile, became a chart topper.

The big problem with the “death to Arabs” slogan is that it’s more than just words. Because the settler-colonial fascists who have been genociding Gaza (while attacking any country in the Middle East willing to stand up for it) have been acting on the slogan. And that is the story we should be emphasising amid all the manufactured outrage about Bob Vylan’s words at Glastonbury.

Featured image via the Canary

By Ed Sykes

This post was originally published on Canary.