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A cabinet minister has criticised chants at Glastonbury calling for “death to the IDF” – but has also told the Israeli embassy to “get your own house in order”.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting condemned the chants against the Israel Defence Forces – calling them “appalling” – but notably also criticised the embassy over the conduct of some Israeli citizens in the occupied West Bank.

Glastonbury Festival has said it is “appalled” by the statements made by Bobby Vylan, of punk duo Bob Vylan, during their set on Saturday – saying they “crossed a line”.

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Speaking to Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Mr Streeting said he believed the BBC and Glastonbury had “questions to answer” over what he called a “shameless publicity stunt” during the set of Bob Vylan.

“I thought it was appalling, to be honest and I think the BBC and Glastonbury have got questions to answer about how we saw such a spectacle on our screens,” he said.

“But I also think it’s a pretty shameless publicity stunt, which I don’t really want to give too much indulgence to for that reason.”

He said the focus should instead be on “Israeli settler terrorists” attacking a Christian village just weeks after setting it on fire.

He added: “I’d also say to the Israeli embassy, get your own house in order, in terms of the conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank.

“So, you know, I think there’s a serious point there by the Israeli embassy, I take seriously. I wish they’d take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously.

“We all condemned and continue to condemn what happened on 7 October. We all want to see the return of the hostages. And there’s no justification for inciting violence against Israelis.

“But you know, the way in which Israel’s conducting this war has made it extremely difficult for Israel’s allies around the world to stand by and justify. In fact, we’ve got to do the opposite as an international community, which is to challenge and urge a change.”

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What’s the Glastonbury controversy?

The Israeli embassy said it was “deeply disturbed” by the anti-IDF chants, which are being investigated by the police.

Video shows one of the members of Bob Vylan shouting the slogan into the mic and some of the crowd joining in.

The duo were performing ahead of a performance by Kneecap, the Irish act the prime minister believed should have been banned from the world-famous festival.

“The Embassy of Israel in the United Kingdom is deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival,” a statement said.

It said slogans like Saturday’s chant “advocate for the dismantling of the State of Israel”.

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Police reviewing comments made by two acts at Glastonbury

The Conservatives also criticised the incident, with Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, saying she was “shocked” by the footage.

“I was shocked to see some of the footage of that chanting of the crowd,” she told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.

“And the music artist was ramping it up.

“I mean to me, also, one of the horrible things about it is, obviously it’s over a year and a half ago that innocent, festivalgoers at a festival in Israel were raped and murdered by Hamas – and then we have a music festival here in the UK where you have a chant saying death to the Israeli Armed Forces who are, you know, taking action to protect people from what Hamas did in Israel.

“I just think it’s disgusting.”

She added: “Yes, I believe in free speech, but that was incitement to violence. It was incitement to kill. That is not something that we support in this country.”

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An Instagram post published by the festival on Sunday morning read: “As a festival, we stand against all forms of war and terrorism. We will always believe in – and actively campaign for – hope, unity, peace and love.

“With almost 4,000 performances at Glastonbury 2025, there will inevitably be artists and speakers appearing on our stages whose views we do not share, and a performer’s presence here should never be seen as a tacit endorsement of their opinions and beliefs.

“However, we are appalled by the statements made from the West Holts stage by Bob Vylan yesterday.

“Their chants very much crossed a line and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the Festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence.”

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Major German bank to offer crypto trading by 2026 amid bank ‘FOMO’

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Major German bank to offer crypto trading by 2026 amid bank ‘FOMO’

Major German bank to offer crypto trading by 2026 amid bank ‘FOMO’

Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe execs once ruled out adopting crypto over concerns of volatility and risk, and the banking giant also blocked customer crypto transactions back in 2015.

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Analysts raise chance of SOL, XRP and LTC ETF approval to 95%

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Analysts raise chance of SOL, XRP and LTC ETF approval to 95%

Analysts raise chance of SOL, XRP and LTC ETF approval to 95%

Crypto ETF summer has arrived with America’s first staked Solana ETP and increased odds for other spot altcoin funds, according to analysts.

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PM faces threat of major rebellion during key vote today

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PM faces threat of major rebellion during key vote today

Sir Keir Starmer continues to face the threat of a major rebellion during a key vote on welfare reforms later – despite making last-minute concessions to disgruntled Labour MPs.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has confirmed that all existing claimants of the personal independence payment (PIP), the main disability benefit, will be protected from changes to eligibility.

The combined value of the standard Universal Credit allowance and the health top-up will rise “at least in line with inflation” every year of this parliament.

And an additional £300m for employment support for sick and disabled people in 2026 has been announced, which will rise every year after.

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Welfare cuts ‘needed to be made’

Ms Kendall has also promised that a consultation into PIP – “co-produced” with disabled people – will be published next autumn.

She said the U-turn on welfare cuts will cost taxpayers about £2.5bn by 2030 – less than half the £4.8bn the government had expected to save with its initial proposals.

Modelling by Ms Kendall’s own department, released yesterday, suggested the proposals would push 150,000 more people into poverty by 2030, down from the 250,000 estimated under the original plan.

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But after announcing the U-turns, Labour MPs were still publicly saying they could not back the plans as they do not go far enough to allay their concerns.

Disabilities minister Stephen Timms would not say he was “confident” the proposals would pass the Commons when asked on Sky News’ Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge.

“We’ve got a very strong package, I certainly hope it passes,” he replied.

Read more: What are the concessions to the welfare reform bill?

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‘Disabled people thrown under the bus’

A total of 86 charities united yesterday to call on MPs to reject the reforms, saying they will harm disabled people and calling it “a political choice”.

The likes of Oxfam, Child Action Poverty Group, Mind and Shelter said the bill has been brought to a vote without consulting disabled people and without any assessment “of its impact on health and employment outcomes”.

When asked to name “a single” disability organisation in favour of the reforms, Ms Kendall declined to do so.

Several Labour MPs indicated they would still vote against the changes, leaving the government in the dark over how big a rebellion it still may face.

Ms Kendall tried to allay their fears, telling MPs: “I believe we have a fair package, a package that protects existing claimants because they’ve come to rely on that support.”

Richard Burgon presented a petition to parliament yesterday evening against the cuts, signed by more than 77,000 people.

Several Labour MPs questioned why the vote was going ahead before the review into PIP is published – including Rachael Maskell, who said she could not “countenance sick and disabled people being denied support” and added: “It is a matter of conscience.”

Connor Naismith said the concessions “undoubtedly improve efforts to secure welfare reform which is fair”, but added: “Unfortunately, I do not believe these concessions yet go far enough.”

Nadia Whittome
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Labour rebel Nadia Whittome said the government was ‘ignoring’ disabled people

Nadia Whittome accused the government of “ignoring” disabled people and urged ministers to go “back to the drawing board”.

Ian Byrne told the Commons he will vote against the “cruel cuts” to disability benefits because the “so-called concessions go nowhere near far enough”.

The vote will take place this evening, with coverage on Sky News’ Politics Hub live blog and on TV.

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