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Dutch Authorities Rule Bob Vylan’s Comments ‘Death to the IDF,’ ‘F–k Zionists’ Are Not Criminally Punishable
Bob Vylan music duo performance at Glastonbury Festival (Source: FLIKR)
The Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) has ruled that comments made by the British punk rap duo Bob Vylan during a concert in September, in which they called for violence against the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Zionists, are not punishable by law.
The OM wrote on its website on Wednesday that it dismissed charges against Bob Vylan “after a careful investigation” into four offensive statements made by the band during a concert in Amsterdam’s Paradiso music hall on Sept. 13.
“Although they may be perceived as provocative and harsh, they do not constitute group defamation, incitement to hatred or discrimination, or incitement according to the Public Prosecution Service,” the OM said. “The question of whether a statement is inappropriate or reprehensible is not taken into consideration by the Public Prosecution Service.”
During the concert in September, Bob Vylan lead singer Bobby Vylan, whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster, shouting “Death, death to the IDF.” He also encouraged audience members to “fight” Zionists.
“F–k Andy, f–k the fascists, f–k the Zionists,” he proclaimed. “Get out there and fight them. Get out there and meet them in the sfreets. Get out there and let them know that you do not fucking stand by them. Do you understand me?”
In the same show he told the crowd: “But sometimes, sometimes you also have to represent kicking a Nazi in the f–king face!” He also mentioned conservative activist and pro-Israel advocate Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot the prior week in Utah.
“Because if you talk s–t, you will get banged. Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk, you piece of s–t,” Robinson-Foster said from the stage.
The OM said Dutch police received “dozens of reports about the concert,” and 35 organizations and private individuals pressed charges against Bob Vylan. The Public Prosecution Service concluded, however, that none of the four assessed statements contain incitement to violence.
“Although the statements are provocative and harsh in tone, the Prosecution Service interprets them as calls for activism and political involvement, which fit with the expressive and confrontational style of the punk genre,” the OM explained.
The OM noted that for something to be punishable under Dutch discrimination law, there needs to be “actual incitement to hatred or violence against a group of people on the grounds of, among other things, their race or religion.”
The Public Prosecution Service said it’s not clear that Bob Vylan’s comments about Zionists “implicitly refer to Jewish people as a group,” but merely reference Zionism as a “political movement and ideology.” The four statements therefore “do not contain punishable discrimination,” according to the Public Prosecution Service. All parties that pressed charges have been notified by the office about its decision and can file a complaint with the court of appeals if they object.
The Central Jewish Consultation (CJO), an umbrella organization of Jewish groups in the Netherlands, said it will appeal the OM’s decision, and CJO’s Chairman Chanan Hertzberger described the ruling as “lax,” according to NL Times.
The CJO tried to cancel Bob Vylan’s performance in the Dutch city of Nijmegen on Sept. 15 through a court order and the band’s Sept. 16 concert at Poppodium 013, a club in Tilburg, The Netherlands. A judge allowed the Sept. 15 concert to proceed, but the venue for the Sept. 16 concert canceled the show because of the band’s controversial remarks in Amsterdam.
The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI), which filed a complaint following Bob Vylan’s “Death to the IDF” comments, said the organization is looking into potential legal action after the OM’s ruling, NL Times added.
Robinson-Foster first proclaimed “death, death to the IDF” from on stage during the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England, in June. During a recent podcast interview, he said he does not regret saying the anti-IDF remark.
It is “not regretful of it at all,” the musician said, adding that he “would do it again tomorrow, [and] twice on Sundays.” Robinson-Foster also called “death to the IDF” a “perfect chant.” He further insisted in a post on X that there “was nothing antisemitic or criminal about anything I said at Glastonbury.”
After the September concert in Amsterdam, Robinson-Foster posted a video on social media in which he denied celebrating Kirk’s murder. “At no point whatsoever did we celebrate Charlie Kirk’s death,” he said. “I did call him a piece of s–t. That much is true. But at no point was his death celebrated.” The singer did not address the anti-Zionist remarks.
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Tucker’s Ideas About Jews Come from Darkest Corners of the Internet, Says Huckabee After Combative Interview
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee looks on during the day he visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – In a combative interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, right-wing firebrand Tucker Carlson made a host of contentious and often demonstrably false claims that quickly went viral online. Huckabee, who repeatedly challenged the former Fox News star during the interview, subsequently made a long post on X, identifying a pattern of bad-faith arguments, distortions and conspiracies in Carlson’s rhetorical style.
Huckabee pointed out his words were not accorded by Carlson the same degree of attention and curiosity the anchor evinced toward such unsavory characters as “the little Nazi sympathizer Nick Fuentes or the guy who thought Hitler was the good guy and Churchill the bad guy.”
“What I wasn’t anticipating was a lengthy series of questions where he seemed to be insinuating that the Jews of today aren’t really same people as the Jews of the Bible,” Huckabee wrote, adding that Tucker’s obsession with conspiracies regarding the provenance of Ashkenazi Jews obscured the fact that most Israeli Jews were refugees from the Arab and Muslim world.
The idea that Ashkenazi Jews are an Asiatic tribe who invented a false ancestry “gained traction in the 80’s and 90’s with David Duke and other Klansmen and neo-Nazis,” Huckabee wrote. “It has really caught fire in recent years on the Internet and social media, mostly from some of the most overt antisemites and Jew haters you can find.”
Carlson branded Israel “probably the most violent country on earth” and cited the false claim that Israel President Isaac Herzog had visited the infamous island of the late, disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“The current president of Israel, whom I know you know, apparently was at ‘pedo island.’ That’s what it says,” Carlson said, citing a debunked claim made by The Times reporter Gabrielle Weiniger. “Still-living, high-level Israeli officials are directly implicated in Epstein’s life, if not his crimes, so I think you’d be following this.”
Another misleading claim made by Carlson was that there were more Christians in Qatar than in Israel.
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Pezeshkian Says Iran Will Not Bow to Pressure Amid US Nuclear Talks
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025, in Tianjin, China, September 1, 2025. Iran’s Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that his country would not bow its head to pressure from world powers amid nuclear talks with the United States.
“World powers are lining up to force us to bow our heads… but we will not bow our heads despite all the problems that they are creating for us,” Pezeshkian said in a speech carried live by state TV.
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Italy’s RAI Apologizes after Latest Gaffe Targets Israeli Bobsleigh Team
Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics – Bobsleigh – 4-man Heat 1 – Cortina Sliding Centre, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – February 21, 2026. Adam Edelman of Israel, Menachem Chen of Israel, Uri Zisman of Israel, Omer Katz of Israel in action during Heat 1. Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
Italy’s state broadcaster RAI was forced to apologize to the Jewish community on Saturday after an off‑air remark advising its producers to “avoid” the Israeli crew was broadcast before coverage of the Four-Man bobsleigh event at the Winter Olympics.
The head of RAI’s sports division had already resigned earlier in the week after his error-ridden commentary at the Milano Cortina 2026 opening ceremony two weeks ago triggered a revolt among its journalists.
On Saturday, viewers heard “Let’s avoid crew number 21, which is the Israeli one” and then “no, because …” before the sound was cut off.
RAI CEO Giampaolo Rossi said the incident represented a “serious” breach of the principles of impartiality, respect and inclusion that should guide the public broadcaster.
He added that RAI had opened an internal inquiry to swiftly determine any responsibility and any potential disciplinary procedures.
In a separate statement RAI’s board of directors condemned the remark as “unacceptable.”
The board apologized to the Jewish community, the athletes involved and all viewers who felt offended.
RAI is the country’s largest media organization and operates national television, radio and digital news services.
The union representing RAI journalists, Usigrai, had said Paolo Petrecca’s opening ceremony commentary had dealt “a serious blow” to the company’s credibility.
His missteps included misidentifying venues and public figures, and making comments about national teams that were widely criticized.