A Spanish rap band called Tribade defaced an Israeli flag at the Sziget Festival, or the Island of Freedom, in Hungary, writing "Free Palestine," and "Israel doesn't exist," along with a profane message and a drawing of male genitalia.
Tamir Wertzberger, foreign affairs director at the Action and Protection League (APL), a pan-European antisemitism watchdog originally founded in Hungary, tweeted that the members of the band "snuck" into the area where Israeli attendees were staying to vandalize the flag.
Footage of the Tribade, a Barcelona-based rap band, per its website, vandalizing the flag was posted by the band itself, according to screen records obtained after it was posted to the band's Instagram Stories, which automatically delete 24 hours after being posted.תקרית אנטישמית הלילה בפסטיבל "סיגט" בבודפשט - חברי להקת היפ-הופ ספרדית בשם Tribade התגנבו למחנה בו לנו ישראלים והשחיתו דגל ישראל עם כתובות נאצה כמו "ישראל לא קיימת", "free Palestine" וציור של איבר מין כשלידו הכיתוב "תאכלו את זה".התיעוד הועלה ע"י חברי הלהקה בחשבון האינסטגרם הרשמי pic.twitter.com/fY5umjmIvQ
— Tamir Wertzberger - תמיר ורצברגר (@tamir_wertz) August 15, 2022
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A caption to the video reads, "tribade no falla a su palabra," (Tribade does not go back on his word.) The song playing in the video is "Caiga la Noche," which lists Tribade as one of the artists, along with Marinah, a Spanish singer that was once part of a popular band, and Sombra Alor.
Wertzberg said that his organization is working with Hungarian authorities on the incident.
Who captured the image of the defacement of the Israeli flag?
The screen capture of the story was recorded by, among others, the "Jews of NY" blog on Instagram. The blog, according to its profile, was founded by Yoav Davis, the CEO of Davis Media, a New York-based digital media agency. The agency backs the blog.
"I’ve always been interested in seeing how Jews are portrayed, how we can keep our Jewish identity alive," Davis told The Jerusalem Post in an interview back in March.
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Israeli media picked up on the incident, including Israel Hayom's entertainment reporter Eran Swissa and Mako.
Israeli state-run antisemitism watchdog the Coordination Forum for Countering Antisemitism (CFCA), which is run in cooperation with the Diaspora Ministry, posted the N12 article on its site.
The Sziget festival ran from Wednesday, August 10 to Monday, August 15, with hundreds of popular artists performing over the five-day extravaganza, which, according to Hungarian media, welcomed 95,000 visitors on its first day alone. Tribade took the stage on Sunday night.בנות להקת tribade, שהופיעו בפסטיבל זיגט, השחיתו את דגל ישראל בפסטיבל המוזיקה תעדו והעלו לסטורי. pic.twitter.com/NGsfnyXLIS
— Eran Swissa (@EranSwissa) August 15, 2022
The Jerusalem Post reached out to Sziget and Tribade for comment.