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True to a time-honoured tradition, the summer air is filled with the sound of music emanating from the many festivals at this time of year. Sadly, some performers are singing out of tune with dangerous anti-Israel tirades as part of their performance. Increasingly, since the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023 and the ensuing spike in antisemitism, certain musicians have added extreme anti-Israel and anti-Jewish invective to their repertoire.

Latest case in point: In southwest England, at the Glastonbury Festival, Britain’s largest such musical gathering which attracts some 200,000 fans each year, the punk-rap duo, Bob Vylan, recently led crowds in chants that included “Death, death to the IDF,” calling for the killing of members of the Israel Defense Forces. Less covered in the media were the vile comments by the duo’s frontman, Pascal Robinson-Foster, which included him referring to “working for [expletive] Zionists.” He also told the audience: “Sometimes we have to get our message across with violence, because that’s the only language some people speak, unfortunately.”

Many have argued that these comments were simply meant to protest Israel’s conduct in Gaza. But whatever was intended, these words were, quite literally, a call for violence against Jews. Every Israeli Jewish adult is required to serve in the military. Bob Vylan could have called for peace. Instead, his chant called for yet more violence — violence, a reasonable listener could have concluded, against any Israeli Jewish adult.

Jews know only too well from often being on the receiving end, that the promotion of hate, incendiary rhetoric and incitement and glorification of violence can – and often does – have dangerous, even lethal, consequences. Indeed, when directed at specific groups, any group, it can easily encourage others to lash out at them and engage in vicious behaviour.

The display of vitriol at Glastonbury was not an isolated incident involving entertainers, both on and off the stage.

Performing after Bob Vylan at the festival was the Irish alternative punk act Kneecap, which had recently been dropped by their U.S. booking agent due to their extreme anti-Israel rhetoric. One of their members has been charged under the UK Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization after waving a flag of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group last November at a concert in London. The band has also been criticized for videos that seem to show a member calling for people to kill lawmakers and shouting, “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah.” (Again under scrutiny from the UK police, the band issued a statement denying that they support either terrorist group.)

In cases where rhetoric explicitly promotes hatred or violence, states have reason to intervene. Earlier this month, when the Australian government announced it had canceled the visa of US rapper Ye, formerly Kanye West, after he released his latest single, “Heil Hitler,” which promotes Nazism and praises German leader Adolf Hitler, under whose dictatorship the murder of six million Jews occurred during the Holocaust. The release of the song followed several antisemitic posts the US rapper made on X, which included comments such as “I love Hitler” and “I’m a Nazi.”

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke made the announcement about Ye, whose wife is Australian, saying, “We have enough problems in this country already without deliberately importing bigotry.”

Like Canada and many other countries, Australia has experienced a dramatic increase in antisemitic attacks since Oct. 7, 2023.

In a related, more positive development, some 400 prominent members from the entertainment industry recently signed an open letter denouncing antisemitism and extremist anti-Israel rhetoric. Initiated by the US-based non-profit entertainment organization, Creative Community for Peace (CCFP), signatories included Debra Messing, Julianna Margulies, Mayim Bialik, Sharon Osbourne, Jerry O’Connell, Rebecca De Mornay and Rick Rosen.

“Given the power of social media, it’s incumbent on entertainers and public figures with their ability to influence millions around the world, to use their platforms responsibly,” co-wrote CCFP leaders David Rezner and Ari Ingel. “Without course correction, we will only see more hate, more violence and more innocent people targeted simply for being Jewish.”

Those in the entertainment world spewing toxic incitement must face the music and not be given a platform in Canada. They’re not just a threat to Canadian Jews but to the very fabric of our society and Canadians writ large.

Read in Toronto Star

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