In response to the concerns raised by members at the 2025 Annual Conference and Annual General Meeting of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology, the BFE Committee condemns the Israeli government’s violence against Palestinian civilians, its withholding of humanitarian assistance, its use of forced displacement and mass detention, its seizure of land, and its destruction of infrastructure for food, water, health, and education.

We note that respected international organisations consider this violence to meet important thresholds for war crimes. Amnesty International has concluded that a genocide is occurring in Gaza, and the International Court of Justice has demanded that the state of Israel take all measures within its power to prevent the destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza, and to prevent incitements to commit genocide.

The goal of the BFE is to advance the study, practice, documentation, preservation and dissemination of the music and dance of all peoples. Yet while our discipline thrives in contexts of peace and stability, global circumstances – including ongoing humanitarian crises in many other sites – mean that our members are increasingly forced to pursue this goal amidst violence and harm. The BFE Committee’s condemnation of violence against civilians in Gaza follows from our commitment to the freedom of people to make music and of researchers to study and discuss it, and from a concern for the sanctity of life. It is fully consistent with our condemnation of war crimes and human rights abuses occurring elsewhere, including the atrocities committed by Hamas against Israeli citizens on 7 October 2023.

We note and condemn the recent escalation of violence against Palestinian civilians, the targeting of institutions of higher learning in Gaza, and efforts in the UK and elsewhere to suppress or criminalise academic criticism of this violence. We acknowledge and abhor antisemitism, and at the same time we understand it to be distinct from legitimate criticism of the Israeli government and its actions. We affirm our commitment to making the BFE psychologically, emotionally, and physically safe for all of our members, including those from, or working in, Palestine. We also affirm our commitment to creating spaces in which members are able to discuss these contexts freely and critically.

BFE Committee (by majority decision)

June 2025