Family of slain Gaza hostage accuses Bob Vylan of amplifying 'anti-Semitic caricatures'

Adam Ma'anit, whose cousin Tsachi was taken hostage by Hamas during the October 7th attacks, said: "British Jews watch this.

"We see Bob Vylan broadcast on the BBC live, uninterrupted, was able to say 'death, death to the idf.'"

"He was talking about like this Jewish, Zionist boss.

"it's all these kind of like anti Semitic caricatures."

During their controversial Glastonbury set, Pascal Robinson-Foster, the band’s front man, referred to the boss of a record company he once worked for who "would talk about his support for Israel".

He went on to describe his boss, using the expletive language, referring to him as a "f***ing Zionist".

Mr Ma'anit continued: "Bob Vylan was recently in Amsterdam talking about hunting down Zionists in the street a few weeks ago.

"He's due to play in Manchester in the next month. The venue was begged by members of the Jewish community not to allow Bob Vylan to play there. And they're going to let him play."

"Even now after this terrorist attack, they still going to be allowing them to play.

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"We have a real problem here."

This comes as a senior Labour source told LBC should be banned from performing in Manchester after last week's synagogue attack.

A Government source told LBC: “Any decent person can see that inciting violence in these conditions is completely irresponsible. [They] should not be able to profit from hatred and the show should be banned. Government must act.”

A Labour MP echoed the calls to cancel the show, saying it was "beggars belief" that they should platform the artists.

The punk rap act have also embarked on extremely anti-police rants - as well as celebrating the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The pair are slated to perform at the Manchester Academy, at the University of Manchester's students' union, on November 5.

The source told LBC: "In a context of rising antisemitism and in the wake of the sickening terrorist attack on the Jewish community in the city, it beggars belief that the Manchester Academy would give a platform to [artists] who [have] in recent days openly urged concertgoers to confront and fight 'Zionists' in the streets.

"What the community needs now is space to grieve and heal, not incitement to further antisemitic harassment and violence."

A representative from Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester & Region told LBC: “We are deeply concerned by Manchester Academy’s decision to host Bob Vylan, an artist who has repeatedly engaged in rhetoric that crosses the line from legitimate political discourse into antisemitism and incitement."

"We are even more alarmed given the Director General of the BBC accepted that he was responsible for an 'antisemitic broadcast' by covering their Glastonbury performance that directly led to an increase in hate crime against the Jewish community."

"Subsequently, the band have mocked the murder of Charlie Kirk, performed Nazi salutes on stage and spoken about finding 'Zionists in the streets'. These statements and actions do not provoke debate but carry a real danger by promoting hatred."

"There is a vital distinction between legitimate criticism of the Israeli government and speech that veers into antisemitism. Freedom of expression is a central component of our democracy that must be protected but it cannot be right to platform an artist who has consistently been condemned as hateful and racist.

"We call on the Manchester Academy to cancel the performance and commit to clear policies to ensure that it will not legitimise prejudice under the guise of freedom of speech.”

Bob Vylan also urged fans at a show in Amsterdam to "hunt down Zionists in the streets", reported The Times.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told LBC: "They are chilling and sound incredibly serious.

"I'd want to look at it to understand what's going on. It would worry me given what happened last week."