UK police drop probe into Bob Vylan’s chants about Israeli military

Police say there is ‘insufficient evidence’ to bring charges after investigating comments made at Glastonbury festival.Published On 23 Dec 2025British police have said they will take no further action over comments made by punk-rap duo Bob Vylan about the Israeli military during a performance at the Glastonbury music festival in June.Avon and Somerset Police said on Tuesday that the remarks did not meet the criminal threshold required for prosecution “for any person to be prosecuted”.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Photos: Ukraine deploys low-cost drones to counter Russia’s aerial attackslist 2 of 4Israeli Defence Minister: ‘We will never leave Gaza’list 3 of 4Israel will never fully withdraw from Gaza, defence minister sayslist 4 of 4Pirate motorcyclists cruise Caracas to protest Trumpend of listDuring the performance, the group’s lead singer – Pascal Robinson-Foster, known by his stage name Bobby Vylan – led chants of “death, death” directed at the Israeli military over its genocidal war in Gaza.Police said there was “insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction”. The force added that it interviewed a man in his mid-30s and contacted about 200 members of the public as part of the investigation.The chant, which was livestreamed by the BBC as part of its Glastonbury coverage on June 28, prompted a widespread backlash. The broadcaster later apologised for transmitting what it described as “such offensive and deplorable behaviour”, and its complaints unit found the BBC had breached editorial guidelines.Avon and Somerset Police said it had considered the intent behind the words, the wider context, relevant case law and freedom of expression issues before concluding the investigation.“We believe it is right this matter was comprehensively investigated, every potential criminal offence was thoroughly considered, and we sought all the advice we could to ensure we made an informed decision,” the statement said.“The comments made on Saturday 28 June drew widespread anger, proving that words have real-world consequences.”