Chief Rabbi Mirvis: Chanting ‘death to the IDF’ should be a criminal offence

Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis has called for a change in the law to make the chant “death to the IDF” a criminal offence.

Speaking at the Religion Media Festival at Methodist Central Hall in London, Mirvis argued that the chant—used by some pro-Palestine campaigners—was a call to kill millions of Jews in Israel.

Referring to Bob Vylan’s performance at last year’s Glastonbury Festival, the Chief Rabbi remarked on “the enthusiasm with which they whipped up hysteria in the crowd following those particular words.”

He added, “This is about millions of people in the state of Israel—fellow Jews. It’s a call to kill them.”

Mirvis explained that the Israel Defence Forces exist “to prevent the annihilation of Israel’s people,” and therefore the chant “death to the IDF” is one that “directly incites” anti-Jewish hatred.

In an interview with Mark Easton, the former BBC home editor, Mirvis was presented with the argument that chanting “death to the IDF” is not antisemitic hate speech, but rather a “legitimate, passionate denunciation of Israeli forces, who, as I think we can accept, have killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza. People feel very strongly about that.”

The Chief Rabbi replied, “With regard to some of our laws, sometimes people interpret them in one way and others in a different way, and I believe that on that occasion the interpretation given was the wrong interpretation.”

He continued, “We as a society need to change our laws in order not to allow such a statement to be made, which directly incites.”

Easton also asked Mirvis if criticism of Israeli military actions in Gaza was antisemitic.

He responded, “No.” But he added that denying Israel’s right to exist should be considered antisemitic.