General
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday became the latest politician to wade into the controversy swirling around the pro-Palestinian stance of Northern Irish rap group Kneecap, who have already caused heated reactions in the United States and Britain in recent months.
During his Friday morning speech on state radio, Orban said that the organisers of Hungary’s popular Sziget Festival “should have known better than to invite this group” to perform.
“Is the damned money really so important?” he demanded.
All three members of the trio – who shot to fame last year with a semi-fictionalised comedy film about their career – have been banned from Hungary for three years.
Explaining the decision, the Hungarian government’s international spokesperson, Zoltan Kovacs, claimed that Kneecap “repeatedly engage in anti-Semitic hate speech supporting terrorism and terrorist groups” and that “their planned performance posed a national security threat”.
Before the ban’s announcement, over 100 prominent Hungarian musicians and artists – mostly from the liberal camp – signed an open letter protesting the invitation of the band, who openly endorses Palestine and chant anti-Israeli slogans at their concerts.
“The band does not fight for the rights of Palestinians but endorses terrorist organisations like Hamas and Hezbollah,” the signatories, including Oscar-winning director Laszlo Nemes-Jeles, wrote.
“The Hungarian artistic community is diverse…. but we all agree that incitement and hate speech have no place among us.”
Some liberal intellectuals then took a step back. Renowned musician Laszlo Des clarified that they opposed the concert, not the band’s entry to the country.
Sziget Festival came under pressure to cancel its booking of Kneecap following their performance at the Coachella festival in the US, where a screen behind the stage displayed a slogan slamming Israel and calling for a free Palestine. Kneecap have also sparked controversy in Britain, where one member faces charges for allegedly holding a Hezbollah flag at a gig in London last November.
As a result of the allegations against the band, two German music festival organisers withdrew their invitations to Kneecap, but Sziget, Central Europe’s largest music festival, seemed defiant, brushing off pressure from the government, civil society and Hungary’s largest Jewish organization, Mazsihisz.
“The stage belongs to the artist; it is a space for freedom of expression, and we believe that cancel culture and cultural boycotts are not the solution to problems,” the Sziget organisers stated.
But as the controversy escalated, the Orban government then banned the band from entering Hungary. The decision was welcomed by Maya Kadosh, Israel’s ambassador to Budapest.
Sziget called the ban “unprecedented, unnecessary, and regrettable”.
Kneecap responded by directing an expletive against Orban on social media and insisting that there was “no legal basis” for the ban.
Hungary is home to the largest Jewish community in Central Europe, and Orban is a close political ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was welcomed in Hungary in April, despite an International Criminal Court arrest warrant. Hungary had left the ICC shortly beforehand.