Overview

• The BBC Executive Complaints Unit partly upheld complaints over the June live-stream, judging the broadcast in breach on harm and offence following chants including “death, death to the IDF” and slogans such as “From the river to the sea.”
• In its reasoning, the unit said abusive references to “Zionists” could, in this context, be considered antisemitic and described the act, taken as a whole, as antisemitic.
• The ruling cleared the broadcaster on impartiality grounds, noting festival coverage carries wider tolerance for performers’ views than news output.
• The unit also found no breach of guidelines on material likely to encourage or incite crime, distinguishing chants directed at an institution from calls against protected groups.
• Earlier, the BBC apologized, removed the set from iPlayer, and said it will no longer live-stream acts assessed as high risk, as police inquiries and reported commercial fallout for the duo continue.