Dutch Jewish Leader Files Police Complaint Against Punk-rap Duo Bob Vylan Over Hate Speech

By Worthy News Correspondents Stefan J. Bos in Budapest and Johan Th. Bos in Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – A leading Dutch Jewish voice and longtime politician has filed a police complaint against the British punk-rap duo Bob Vylan, after the band’s frontman appeared to urge violence against Jews and to celebrate the recent assassination of born-again Christian influencer Charlie Kirk during a controversial concert in Amsterdam.

Ronny Naftaniel, former chairman of the Netherlands’ Labor Party (PvdA) branch in Amstelveen, a suburb of Amsterdam, said he reported the group for “incitement to hatred and violence.”

The act performed Saturday at the Paradiso concert hall before some 1,500 fans, where frontman Bobby Vylan called on the crowd to take aim at Israel, chanting “Death to the [Israel Defense Forces] IDF.”

Naftaniel also filed a complaint against Paradiso management, arguing that the venue “could have known this would happen.”

Naftaniel, who from 1980 until 2013 was director of the Centrum Informatie en Documentatie Israël (CIDI) — the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel — confirmed that CIDI itself has also filed a separate complaint against the band.

THREATENING LANGUAGE

Video footage obtained by Worthy News confirmed Naftaniel’s observations, showing Bobby Vylan using inflammatory language and leading the crowd in hostile chants.

The frontman Bobby Vylan, real name Pascal Robinson-Foster, told the crowd: “I want to dedicate this next one to an absolute piece of s** of a human being.”* He then gleefully announced, while making a gun sign: “The pronouns was/were. Because if you chat s**, you will get banged.”*

He went on to mock the recently slain U.S. conservative activist Charlie Kirk with a crude play on the phrase “Rest in peace,” declaring instead: “Rest in p**, Charlie Kirk, you piece of s***.”*

According to Ronny Naftaniel’s complaint, the frontman also asked whether there were “snipers in the room” before escalating into chants of “Death to the IDF.”

In his letter to Dutch authorities, Naftaniel said Vylan’s words were “particularly threatening to Jews and others on the basis of their religion or belief,” citing passages in which the singer used explicit language such as: “Sometimes you have to kick Nazis in their fing face (…) F* the fascists, F*** the Zionists. Go find them in the streets.”*

BAND DENIAL

He added that the frontman praised “the armed Palestinian flag,” while pointing out that British police had previously sanctioned a Bob Vylan performance for similar reasons.

After criticism mounted, Bob Vylan denied celebrating Kirk’s death.

In a video statement, the frontman insisted: “At no point during yesterday’s show was Charlie Kirk’s death celebrated. At no point whatsoever did we celebrate Charlie Kirk’s death. I did call him a piece of s**. That much is true. But at no point was his death celebrated.”*
He made these remarks despite overwhelming video footage to the contrary, reviewed by Worthy News, showing him mocking Kirk’s death on stage in front of a Palestinian flag and twisting the phrase ‘Rest in peace’ into a crude insult.

VENUES REACT

Paradiso defended hosting the band, saying in a statement that “punk is an art form that often seeks the boundaries of what others consider acceptable.” However, the venue said it would cooperate with any investigation by the Dutch public prosecutor’s office.

By contrast, the 013 pop venue in Tilburg, where Bob Vylan was scheduled to perform on Tuesday, cancelled the show. “The remarks go too far,” its management said.

The concert in Nijmegen at the Doornroosje music venue also became the subject of legal action. The Centraal Joods Overleg (CJO), or Central Jewish Consultation, sought to ban the event through the courts, but judges ruled the performance could go ahead.

The show was allowed to proceed despite the controversy. Paradiso hosting the punk group comes after a turbulent history. Built in 1880 as a church for the liberal Vrije Gemeente (Free Congregation), Paradiso was abandoned in the 1960s and later occupied by hippies and artists.

In 1968, the city of Amsterdam legalized its use as a cultural center, and it soon became one of Europe’s most famous concert venues — often called the city’s “pop temple.”

LEGAL PERSPECTIVE

Hugh Doornhof, lawyer for the CJO, argued that Vylan’s remarks in Paradiso had “threatened the safety of the Jewish community.”

He told Dutch media: “Vylan’s statement makes society unsafe for the Jewish community, regardless of the wafer-thin dividing line between Jewish and Zionist.”

Other lawyers noted that Dutch courts may interpret some of the chants differently. Willem Jebbink, a lawyer quoted in Dutch outlets, suggested that the phrase “Death to the IDF” might be seen legally as “away with the IDF,” placing it in the realm of political speech and thus potentially protected by freedom of expression laws.

The case comes amid broader concerns about rising antisemitism in the Netherlands. On November 7–8, 2024, following a soccer match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv, groups of fans were filmed chanting about “Jews hunting” in Amsterdam, drawing outrage from Jewish organizations.

Similar incidents at stadiums have long been a problem, with chants mocking Jews linked to rivalries involving Ajax, an Amsterdam soccer club often associated with Jewish identity, and its rivals.

RISING ANTISEMITISM

Today, an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 Jewish people live in the Netherlands, mainly in Amsterdam. That is a fraction of the more than 140,000 Jews who lived in the country before World War II, of whom around 102,000 were deported to Nazi death camps — one of the highest proportional death tolls in Europe.

Jewish institutions across the country — including schools and synagogues — now operate under heightened security, with armed guards and surveillance.

Community leaders warn that open displays of antisemitism are increasingly emboldened, ranging from football terraces to social media and street demonstrations.

A Holocaust survivor told Worthy News she is deeply concerned about these developments. “I realize this hatred is still not behind us. It is painful that the mayor allows the anti-Israel manifestations,” she said.

Worthy News did not publish her name for security reasons.

EUROPEAN IMPACT

Dutch politician Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV), known for its staunch pro-Israel stance, called for Bob Vylan’s arrest.

The controversy has ignited fierce debate in the Netherlands about freedom of artistic expression, antisemitism, and the boundaries of political speech, especially as the nation grapples with rising tensions linked to the war in the Middle East and recent political violence.

The case also carries broader European implications. The Netherlands has long been seen as a model of tolerance, but Jewish leaders warn that this image is under pressure. In Central and Eastern Europe, Hungary has taken a strikingly different approach.

The Hungarian government has, in recent years, actively banned anti-Israel protests, citing its own World War II past when some 600,000 Hungarian Jews were killed in the Holocaust, also known as the Shoah.

Officials in Budapest argue that such measures are necessary to protect Jewish communities and prevent antisemitic incitement.

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