The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts is a musical extravaganza held annually in Somerset, England. Musicians of all stripes showcase their talents before enthusiastic crowds. It is a joyous occasion, although this year the audience got more than it bargained for.

On June 28, when the punk rock duo Bob Vylan performed, the rapper, Pascal Robinson-Foster (also known as “Bobby Vylan”), deviated from the script. Referring to the activities of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the Gaza Strip, he chanted “Death, death, to the IDF”, which the BBC livestreamed. When they chanted “Free! Free!” the crowd responded “Palestine!”

The BBC’s director-general, Tim Davie, immediately ruled that the duo’s set should not be made available to watch on demand, although the chant remained on the corporation’s iPlayer for five hours.

Thereafter, the heavens fell in, and the incident assumed global proportions. The duo was branded antisemitic, and the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, condemned their “appalling hate speech”.

The US deputy secretary of state, Christopher Landau, also became involved, saying the group’s visas for a forthcoming tour had been revoked (although he said nothing of the visa of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, architect of the Gaza carnage).

The chief rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, called the incident a “time of national shame”, adding that “toxic Jew-hatred is a threat to our entire society”. 

The Avon and Somerset Police, feeling the heat, duly opened an investigation, saying it would be “evidence-led and will closely consider all appropriate legislation, including relating to hate crime”. 

The BBC also found itself in the firing line, with the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, deploring “a problem of leadership at the BBC”.

Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Sharren Haskel, also muscled in, calling for an investigation into why it took the BBC so long to remove the chant from the BBC iPlayer. She said Davie should resign if no one were held accountable for the incident. She accused the broadcaster of being “fully biased”.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism went further, demanding Davie’s outright sacking. 

Starmer, of all people, should know that the interests of humanity deserve no less, that double standards are intolerable, and that the suffering of the Palestinian people must end

The UK’s Conservative Party’s home affairs spokesman, Chris Philp, grasping for relevance, said he wanted to see the rapper prosecuted for “inciting violence and hatred”. He also bizarrely called on the police to “urgently investigate and prosecute the BBC”, which “appears to have also broken the law” (he is clearly not legally qualified).   

Although Bob Vylan must have expected some reaction, they were probably taken aback by its virulence, but in no way cowed. In an Instagram statement, they denied they were “the number one threat to world peace”. They did not advocate the death of any community, Jewish or otherwise, but were “for the dismantling of a violent military machine” that had “destroyed much of Gaza”.

They were, moreover, being “targeted for speaking up”, adding that “if you care for the sanctity of human life and freedom of speech, we urge you to speak up too. Free Palestine”.

Although some deplored the duo’s chant, those who claimed to be the most outraged might have had more credibility if they had shown any sense of perspective.   

Just two days later, on June 30, the news arrived of the IDF’s latest atrocity in Gaza. An Israeli airstrike on the Al-Baqa seafront cafe had killed over 40 people. According to Dr Mohammad Abu Salmiya, from the Al-Shifa hospital, at least 41 people died after a missile hit the cafe, and 75 were injured (many seriously). The cafe hosted journalists, students, and remote workers, and was one of the few places left with regular internet access and electricity to charge phones. However, its patrons were no safer there than anybody else in Gaza, including its healthcare workers.

Two days after Al-Baqa, on July 2, AP reported that an Israeli airstrike on his apartment had killed Dr Marwan al-Sultan, the director of the Indonesian Hospital, together with his wife, daughter, and son-in-law. He was the 70th healthcare worker to have been killed by Israeli forces in the last 50 days. According to Muath Alser, director of Healthcare Workers Watch, the doctor’s death was “a catastrophic loss to Gaza and the entire medical community, and will have a devastating impact on Gaza’s healthcare system”, which the IDF presumably anticipated.    

It must also have known what it was doing when it opened fire in the vicinity of the aid distribution centers operated by the US-Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The UN called the centers “death traps”, a fitting description after 600 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry (GHM), were killed while seeking food.

Although grim, the latest Palestinian casualties are but a drop in the ocean. On June 25, the GHM reported 56,200 deaths since October 2023, although the Israeli government has questioned its reliability. However, what is said to be the first independent survey of deaths, reported last month by the journal Nature, estimated that almost 84,000 Palestinians had died. The survey, posted on the preprint server MedRxiv on June 27, revealed that over half of the victims were women aged 18-64, children, or individuals over 65 years old.

To appreciate the scale of the IDF’s killings, approximately 43,000 British civilians were killed by Nazi Germany when its Luftwaffe (air force) launched the Blitz against London and other major British cities in 1940-41.

It is clear, therefore, that Haskel, Landau, and Philp treat a chant at a musical festival as far graver than the daily killings in Gaza, about which they are strangely silent. They have also failed to demand the resignation of Netanyahu, notwithstanding the charges brought against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC), alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. If this is their interpretation of the “international rules-based order”, it is little wonder the West’s favorite slogan has fallen into such disrepute.

Although Starmer has sanctioned two of Netanyahu’s ministers for their repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities, he has yet to get serious. While the UK has suspended about 30 arms export licenses to Israel, the transfer of British-made parts for the US-produced F-35 jets has, despite a court challenge, continued apace (notwithstanding the IDF’s indiscriminate use of the aircraft to strike Gaza's civilian population).   

This has not only shamed the British government but also harmed its standing in the Middle East. Whereas Amnesty International UK has reminded the government “of its responsibilities under international law”, Oxfam said it was unconscionable of the government to supply jet components, knowing that they are used to deliberately attack civilians in Gaza and destroy their means of survival, including vital water supplies.

On July 3, one of Starmer’s Labour Party members, Zarah Sultana, the member of Parliament for Coventry South, took a principled stand. She announced her resignation from the party after 14 years’ membership. She accused his government of being “an active participant in genocide” in Gaza, and Starmer was hopefully listening.  

In any event, as he was a human rights barrister, it is extraordinary that Starmer needs lecturing on such elementary issues. Although he undoubtedly fears that stopping the supply of jet components would upset the US and NATO (government lawyers told the judges as much during the court challenge), that is not a proper basis for allowing the IDF to kill whoever it wants in Gaza.

Starmer cannot have been surprised when the UK director of Human Rights Watch, Yasmine Ahmed, said, “The atrocities we are witnessing in Gaza are precisely because governments don’t think the rules should apply to them.”

However, fortunately for British credibility, not everybody in Starmer’s government is unwilling to call out Israel’s depredations.    

On June 29, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, having called Bob Vylan’s chants “appalling”, made clear what had to be done. He told the Israeli government to “take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously”. He called upon it to get its “own house in order in terms of the conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank”. Increasingly touted as a possible successor to Starmer, he added that people needed to focus on the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza, advice his leader will hopefully heed.  

Thereafter, however, on June 29, the IDF spokesman, Avichay Adraee, warned of extensive strikes to come across Gaza City and other areas. In remarks undoubtedly cleared by Netanyahu, he said the military was “operating with extreme force”, meaning more civilian deaths were contemplated.  

Indeed, the IDF is capable of anything, however outrageous. On July 3, for example, The Daily Telegraph reported that IDF aircraft had dropped their leftover munitions on Gaza as they returned home after bombing Teheran.

Although the US is reportedly trying to rein in Netanyahu, he is a warmonger who fears peace more than he fears the ICC. His political survival depends on conflict, which is why he is beholden to his country’s hawks and has placed his future in the IDF’s hands.

Instead, therefore, of agonizing over Bob Vylan’s chanting, Starmer should focus on achieving global justice. The UK is a signatory to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC, and is obliged to execute its arrest warrants. Although Starmer has called the situation in Gaza “appalling and intolerable”, he must now get serious and target the real culprit. British honor demands no less.

It is said that “where there is a will, there is a way”, and Starmer should liaise with the other 122 Rome Statute signatories to see how Netanyahu can be held accountable before the ICC. As this may be the only way to stop him, Starmer should not flinch from doing his duty, even if it upsets the United States. It is Netanyahu who should be in the dock, not Bob Vylan or the BBC.

Starmer, of all people, should know that the interests of humanity deserve no less, that double standards are intolerable, and that the suffering of the Palestinian people must end.

The author is a senior counsel and law professor, and was previously the director of public prosecutions of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.