The hip-hop group Tribade performs on stage at Sala Mon in Madrid, March 4, 2022. (Aldara Zarraoa/Redferns for Tribade)

(JTA) — A Hungarian music festival barred a Spanish hip-hop band from future performances after they published a video of its members defacing an Israeli flag on Monday.

The three members of Tribade posted a video of themselves to Twitter, in which they are seen writing “free Palestine” and “Israel does not exist” on an Israeli flag, along with a sketch of a penis and the words “eat this.”

They had performed at the Sziget Music Festival, one of Europe’s largest of its kind that ended Monday after five days of performances from some of the world’s top pop, rock and electronic artists.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Several Jewish groups, including the European Union of Jewish Students, condemned the display. The festival organizers published a statement on their Instagram stories channel reading: “The actions of the group Tribade are against our cherished values of welcome and respect and we deeply condemn this hateful stunt. They will, of course, not be invited back to our festivals in the future.”

Barcelona, where the band is based, is a hub of anti-Israel activity in Europe. In June, the parliament of Catalonia, the Spanish region whose capital city is Barcelona, became the first in Europe to pass a resolution that calls Israel an apartheid state. Some Catalonian anti-Israel activists have compared the Israeli control of the West Bank to the Spanish government’s control of Catalonia, where separatist sentiment is strong.

Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a right-wing populist who has become a model for U.S. conservatives, has one of the most pro-Israel policies of any European Union member states, along with Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia — a group of Central European countries knows and the Visegrad bloc. The Visegrad Fund, an intergovernmental organization with funding from its member governments, is among the sponsors of the Sziget festival, along with the municipality of Budapest and several other Hungarian public entities.

This article originally appeared on JTA.org.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount