The European Jewish Association, which is based in Brussels, filed a complaint on Thursday for incitement to violence with Belgian authorities against the British Bob Vylan rap duo, over their chanting of “Death to the IDF” at a concert.
The rappers, who popularized the chant at the Glastonbury music festival in England in June, sang it at a Belgian music event on Dec. 2 while displaying a T-shirt advertising Samidoun, a PFLP-linked Palestinian group that lobbies for freeing murderers and which is classified as terror-linked in several countries, including the United States, Canada and Germany.
The investigating judge of the Brussels Court of First Instance received the complaint filed by the Brussels-based lawyer Christophe Boeraeve and EJA legal counsel and lawyer Shlomo Dahan, EJA told JNS.
Last month, Dutch prosecutors threw out a similar complaint against Bob Vylan in the Netherlands, saying the “Death to the IDF” chant was not illegal.
The complaint alleges that the duo engaged in incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence; dissemination of ideas based on racial hatred; assistance to a group advocating discrimination; public provocation to commit a terrorist offence; glorification of terrorism; and participation in the activities of a terrorist group.
“In Israel the law requires every citizen to serve in the army, and therefore calls for the death of IDF soldiers are, in principle, understood as directed toward every Israeli and every Jew,” EJA said.
“Freedom of expression is a pillar of democracy. We recognize it and we defend it. But when an artist leads thousands to chant for the death of others, when hostility toward law enforcement becomes normalized, a red line has been crossed, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the chairman of the EJA, told JNS.
Separately, Bob Vylan sued the Irish national broadcaster RTE for defamation, Irish media reported on Wednesday, claiming it misrepresented the “Death to the IDF” chants and others as antisemitic, Sky News reported on Wednesday.
The group, which performed at Dublin’s Vicar Street performing arts center last month, claim it was defamed in a report by RTE News that said the lead singer led antisemitic chants when it played the Somerset festival in June.
