Members of the Barcelona rap band Tribade, who performed at the Sziget Festival in Budapest on Sunday night, posted a video on Instagram of them breaking into a tent where Israelis were sleeping and vandalizing the Israeli flag at the entrance. The video was also shared on social media.
The footage shows band members drawing a genitalia on an Israeli flag alongside the slogans „Israel does not exist” and „Fuck you,” with pro-Palestinian rap music playing in the background. The video captions are „Free Palestine,” „Israel is a fascist state” and „You are not on your territory.”
„This is a very serious incident that falls under the new IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Association) definition of antisemitism.”
– the Action and Protection League, the European network of the Action and Protection Foundation (TEV), which has been active in Hungary since 2012, told mako.co.il, Israel’s largest news site.
„We intend to use all the means at our disposal to ensure that the criminals are caught and held accountable for their actions by the Hungarian authorities.”
The Action and Protection Foundation is filing a complaint for the crime of incitement against a community (Section 332 of the Criminal Code) based on their inciting hatred against Jews.
Tribade is a trio of rappers performing political lyrics, MC Bittah, Masiva Lulla and DJ Big Mark.
According to their own description, they want to convey the voice of the „real working class” in Barcelona and „fight against insecurity in a society full of male privilege.” In addition, „through their poetry, they amplify realities that are usually silenced, such as local and neighborhood struggles, LGBT, anti-fascist activism, etc.”
Many of the American and European rap/gangsta, rap/hip-hop artists have been the subject of antisemitic scandals. In the 1990s, members of the U.S. band Public Enemy made several antisemitic statements, Ice Cube posted such content, and two years ago rapper Tamer Nafar made a similar statement about the Israeli-Gaza conflict. Also two years ago, The Times of Israel devoted a special article to the antisemitic problem in the Western European hip-hop scene.
In Western Europe, it is a recurring experience that the desecration and burning of Israeli flags and symbols is a prelude to antisemitic hatred and violence, including attacks on Israeli and Jewish civilians, and sometimes even acts of terrorism. The most striking example of this was the wave of antisemitism that peaked last year in the midst of the armed conflict between Israel and Gaza, durring which — particularly in Germany — there was not only the burning of Israeli flags at demonstrations but also an increase in atrocities.
In recent years, TEV has repeatedly drawn attention to the possible close link between words and acts of hatred and physical atrocities in Hungary as well.
