Anti-Semitic fans pressure Hungarian band to cancel Israel gig

Tankcsapda’s bass player says group will come to Tel Aviv in June despite criticism on social networks

Members of a Hungarian punk rock band said they would ignore pleas and anti-Semitic comments from fans who want the band to cancel its upcoming concert in Israel.

The bass player of the rock band Tankcsapda, Lukacs Laszlo, said his group, which is popular in far-right circles, will travel in June to play in Tel Aviv despite the criticism it has received on social networks since announcing Israel’s inclusion for the first time in the band’s European tour, the news website index.hu reported.

“Anyone who knows us knows we do not get involved in politics and ideology,” Lukacs said. “On tour, we want to perform wherever possible.” On Israel, he added: “If Die Toten Hosen, Depeche Mode, Iron Maiden and Metallica play there, why shouldn’t we?”

But some of the band’s fans reacted with anger to the news of the Israel performance. One user wrote on Facebook profanities about circumcised penises. Another posted a picture of a kippah emblazoned with the band’s logo.

A third user wished “the artificially created entity of Israel be wiped off the face of the earth” and wrote profanities about Tankcsapda’s musicians.