KINSELLA: Jew hate abounds at big U.K. music festival

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“Free, free Palestine.” Then: “Death, death to the IDF.” Many chanted that.

And, later on, “Israel are war criminals,” from a group that waves around the Hezbollah flag onstage.

Those things didn’t happen in Iran, by the way. They happened at what is probably the biggest music festival in the world, Glastonbury.

There was lots of hatred directed at Israel at Glastonbury in the U.K. over the weekend. The Libertines, Amyl and the Sniffers and plenty of others angrily denounced Israel, colonialism, and so on. It made things uncomfortable for many of the 200,000-odd people at the annual five-day music festival. But it arguably didn’t break any criminal laws.

However, the waving of the Hezbollah flag — allegedly by a member of the Irish rap trio Kneecap — has previously resulted in him being charged with a terror offence. And the “death, death to the IDF” chant — led by Bob Vylan’s frontman, Pascal Robinson-Foster? That is now being investigated by Somerset Police. (Robinson-Foster, for his part, issued a release saying: “I said what I said.” And then he said his words were no more offensive than his daughter advocating for better school lunches.)

The organizers of Glastonbury, meanwhile, issued a statement saying, “there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism” — when, clearly, there was. Because, you know: They were the ones who invited Kneecap and Bob Vylan in the first place. Because they knowingly platformed hate, and only denounced it when the cops got involved. Because their event had devolved into a modern-age Nuremberg Rally, but with a rock soundtrack.

It’s depressing, it’s maddening and — for many Jews — it is frightening. For fans of music, too, it all presents a dilemma. Like me.

I have featured Bob Vylan on my podcast, the Kinsellacast, many times. So, too, Amyl and the Sniffers and the Libertines. I liked their music. What should one do when one finds out that a favoured musical act espouses hate and division?

In the case of Bob Vylan, I wrote to them. Here’s what I said: “Hey guys. I’ve played your music on my show and promoted you for years. No more.

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“You’ve revealed yourself to be as bad as the neo-Nazis you professed to oppose. You’re Jew-haters, just like them.

“I plan to say so, as well, in my book that’s coming out later this year. You’ll say you don’t care, but I’m just one of the many people who intend to devote ourselves to ensuring everyone knows you’re no better than a National Front skinhead.”

I then told them to do something to themselves that is biologically impossible. But it certainly communicated what I was feeling.

I’ve done that sort of thing before. When the lead singer of leftist punk supergroup Anti Flag was credibly accused by several women of rape, I burned all of their records and merch (the lead singer fled the U.S.). When a drunken member of Minneapolis punk outfit Off With Their Heads dragged a B.C. woman behind their tour van for five blocks — leaving her with life-altering injuries — I burned their stuff, too. Why? Because it was “unfortunate” their tour was thereafter cancelled, their lead singer wrote in a statement. Not what happened to the 24-year-old victim.

And John Lennon saying: “I used to be cruel to my woman, I beat her.” And Elvis Costello calling Ray Charles “a ni**er.” And Eric Clapton saying: “Stop Britain from becoming a black colony…Get the foreigners out. Get the wogs out. Get the coons out. Keep Britain white. I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism.” And Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters calling for Jews to “go back to Eastern Europe, or whoever you come from.”

And on, and on. Stopped listening to all of them. Stopped giving them my money. Threw out their records.

Because of the nature of fame, because of the liberties we grant to celebrities, they often get away with murder (sometimes, literally, like O.J. Simpson). They get away with antisemitism and racism and violent misogyny.

What are we, the powerless consumers, to do? We can organize petitions and boycotts, but those aren’t easy to put together. We can call for them to be charged with promoting hate, but that almost never happens to the A-listers.

So, do just this: stop consuming their stuff. Stop giving them money. Stop giving them precious minutes of your life.

And, occasionally, send them a note, too. And tell them to go to do something to themselves that is biologically impossible. You’ll feel better.

I did.