The artist led the crowd in chants of “Death to the IDF” and “Everybody hates the police,” while displaying a Samidoun-branded t-shirt — an organisation officially classified as terror-linked in several countries and undergoing formal designation procedures as a terrorist organisation in several additional countries where its activities have already been banned.

 “A moral failure and a security threat to Jewish communities and to Belgian society as a whole,” says the EJA

The European Jewish Association (EJA) has initiated a legal proceedings following the 2 December performance of Bob Vylan at Ancienne Belgique, a concert hall in Brussels,  during which the artist led the crowd in chants of “Death to the IDF” and “Everybody hates the police,” while displaying a Samidoun-branded t-shirt — an organisation officially classified as terror-linked in several countries and undergoing formal designation procedures as a terrorist organisation in several additional countries where its activities have already been banned.

The investigating judge of the Brussels Court of First Instance on Thursday received the complaint filed by Belgian attorney Christophe Boeraeve and EJA legal counsel Adv. Shlomo Dahan, and authorised the opening of an investigation into Vylan’s performance for the following offences:

• Incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence;
• Dissemination of ideas based on racial hatred; assistance to a group promoting discrimination;
• Public provocation to commit a terrorist offence;
• Glorification of terrorism;
• Participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation;
• Provocation to commit offences against public authorities.

The EJA recalls that in Israel, the law requires every citizen to serve in the army. ”Therefore calls for the death of IDF soldiers are, by definition, understood as directed at every Israeli and every Jew,” it said.

”The fact that thousands of Belgian citizens were incited and roused to call for the death of the overwhelming majority of Israelis, while hurling insults at the Belgian police, reflects a profound moral failure and a security threat that Belgian authorities must treat with utmost seriousness,” the EJA said.

Boeraeve and Dahan explained: “Criticise Israeli policy as you wish. But leading thousands to call for the death of the vast majority of Israelis? That is not speech, that is pure incitement. Some might call it rock and roll, provocative performance art. But there is a line. Belgian law draws it clearly. When you lead a crowd to call for the death of people defined by their nationality, that line is crossed.”

In addition to legal action, the EJA has submitted an official complaint to UNIA, Belgium’s federal anti-discrimination authority, requesting that it investigate the incident and consider public and legal measures in response to the incitement witnessed.

EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin, stated that  ”freedom of expression is a pillar of democracy. We recognise it and we defend it. But when an artist leads thousands to chant for the death of others, when hostility toward law enforcement becomes normalised, a red line has been crossed.””

He added that Belgian law marks that line clearly. ”Silence is not neutrality,  it is complicity. We have initiated legal action and filed an official complaint with UNIA. We now expect the authorities to act. What occurred at Ancienne Belgique is not only a moral lapse , it is a threat to Jewish communities and to Belgian society as a whole, and it demands a firm response.”