Punk Rockers Echo Campus Anti-Israel Fervor, Alienating Jewish Fans

It started out as a concert like any other. Music blasted through stacked speakers, the Old Town School of Folk Music logo emblazoned on flags hanging from the top of the stage, billowing in the breeze like a war banner. People stood around, drunk, happy, and dancing.

In the crowd, I stood with my friends, likewise oblivious, as track after track of punk rock from Ted Leo and the Pharmacists washed over us. Ted Leo, in his mid-50s, brought the energy to a limited set of songs; his latest release came out in 2010. Still, he held the audience in the palm of his hand, as an aging set of dads and moms rocked out to tunes from twenty years ago. A light rain in the dark summer night only strengthened our conviction to rock.

We made it until about midway through the show before I noticed something was up, and even then, it took Leo explicitly outing himself. He started by praising Zohran Mamdani, saying that it was remarkable that such a person had gained such support, that it heralded greater things. I noticed the Palestinian flag affixed to the stage below the keyboard. He went on to talk about how we lived in an important time, and that it was important to make a change. I noticed the watermelon necklace hanging down from his neck. He said something else, with the same verve, the same fire, and then he said, “Free Palestine!” There it was. My anti-Zionist friend in the audience clapped, along with nearly everyone else. I felt a little sick and tried to continue dancing.

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The Bob Vylan phenomenon, where said band’s lead singer Vylan led his audience in a chant of “Death, Death to the IDF” at the Glastonbury Music Festival, does not reflect an isolated incident, but rather a trend whereby musicians rally support for the Palestinian cause at their shows. By using their clout and the unequal power they hold over their audiences, these musicians drive these groups of participants to expressions of anti-Israel vehemence, many of the members being caught in the wave, relinquishing all critical thought about what they voice allegiance to.

The tradition of influence through live music goes back decades. In the 1970s, the CIA—allegedly—infiltrated live musical acts to push back against the anti-war movement, while in the 1980s, during the culture wars, the US. Government pushed American Jazz overseas to undermine Soviet influence. In 2023, Secretary of State Antony Blinken launched the Global Music Diplomacy Initiative—with musicians such as Herbie Hancock at the inaugural event—a reprise of this Cold War-era Jazz Ambassador initiative with American bands traveling to over 30 countries, and a testament to the durability of influence through music.

Still, the anti-Israel artists at these concerts seem to take the initiative themselves, with few taking heed of the whims of any particular government, and many even guiding the musical organizers who bring them. At the Sziget Music Festival in Budapest, Hungary the band leading up to Chappell Roan—before the coterie of drag queens labeled “Queenz” who gave the crowd a salacious little fifteen minute warm-up—was the Last Dinner Party, an all-female and non-binary band who, with their 25-year old lead singer Abigail Morris, currently enjoyed the flickering glow of the fickle gen-Z spotlight.

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The Last Dinner Party writes and performs songs at the intersection of LGBTQ sexuality, Catholicism, and Biblical reference. There is nothing directly about Middle Eastern politics in their songs, and as far as my research shows, none have any connections to Palestinians through their heritage or background.

Yet, a few songs into their set, they displayed the Palestinian flag and began talking about their support for the Palestinian cause. This time, my friend group wasn’t from Chicago but a mix of international travelers I’d met at a hostel. Among them was an Israeli named Itai. When Morris shouted, “Free Palestine!” he shot back, “Free the hostages, bring them home!” The response made a small circle of people cringe away from him. I felt terrible about the power divide—how was my Israeli friend supposed to stand up against a band of superstars?

At the end of the show, several other concert-goers asked Itai to leave. They claimed that it was because he was talking during the show, not because he had advocated for the hostages. This resulted in him giving a long, drawn-out apology, which included, “Imagine if someone was on stage rooting for people who had taken members of your family.” I felt heartbroken.

The Last Dinner Party’s use of the Palestinian flag was not some spontaneous flourish—it was projected in lights as part of the official set design. That means the organizers knew about it and endorsed the band’s political statement. But this is no harmless gesture. The slogan “Free Palestine!” is not abstract; it is the very phrase shouted by a gunman who murdered two young Jewish professionals outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. Just weeks later, the same words were cheered on stage by performers opening for one of the biggest names in pop. Until the hostages are freed, waving that flag and chanting that slogan cannot be excused as neutral political advocacy or free speech. It directly advances the aims of those who believe violence against Jews is a legitimate political tool.

These aims include the destruction of the state of Israel and every Jewish life therein.

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The college-age students who made up the bulk of the Last Dinner Party’s audience, as well as the boomers who populated the audience at Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, most likely did not totally think out the full consequences of supporting an artist who supports Palestine, let alone supporting Palestine itself. People who go to a show, particularly if they know and like the artist and aren’t just tagging on to their friends, enter an implicit contract with that artist to root for them and provide the energy for everything they do on stage. In return, the artist puts on a good show, plays some of their hits, and hopefully doesn’t bite the head off of any bats. But the current pro-Palestinian wave of artists has hijacked this relationship, such that to go to a show no longer means buying into the artist on the basis of their music—and this still can be broad; music can encompass many things—but rather buying into that artist’s worldview. And if you don’t, it sours the music and the whole experience—as Itai later shared had happened to him.

Music is very powerful. Like the college experience, it has a marked capacity to influence, especially among the young and impressionable. Bringing politics of any sort into an experience meant to foster togetherness among participants is always divisive, but this becomes especially true if the cause that the participants are meant to support is one that was behind one of the worst acts of violence ever perpetrated at a music festival. One can’t do much when an artist spontaneously reveals themselves to be pro-Palestinian during a show. But it is possible to be clear with oneself and others when mentioning that artist or when talking about their show—their music may be great, but their politics are a misguided disappointment.

Furthermore, there remains no reason to support any artist like this fiscally. Artists have the power of the stage, but we have the power of the populace. Just as universities deserve to be defunded when they engage in fomenting anti-Semitic activity, so should bands be defunded when they foster anti-Semitism at their shows. Let’s make it clear to them that any support of terrorism, no matter how supposedly bound up in human rights, will not be tolerated in the musical arena meant to foster community and support of one another.

Photo by Benjamin Dorfman