![\"Bobby](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/swastika-eyes.png\")
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Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream performs onstage in front of a display featuring a swastika-Star of David hybrid during a concert at the Roundhouse music venue on Dec. 08, 2025 in London, England. Screenshot of Primal Scream<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Grace Gilson<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tDecember 12, 2025\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n (JTA<\/a>) \u2014 The Scottish rock band Primal Scream is rejecting criticism that it received after displaying Stars of David entwined with swastikas at a concert in London on Monday, as part of an anti-Israel demonstration.<\/p>\n The images were projected behind the stage during the performance of Primal Scream\u2019s 2000 song \u201cSwastika Eyes.\u201d It featured images from the war in Gaza as well as a wide-ranging host of political figures with the flashing swastika\/Star of David hybrid over their eyes.<\/p>\n Among the leaders targeted in the film were President Donald Trump, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Argentinian President Javier Milei, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.<\/p>\n At the end of the performance Monday, which was at the Roundhouse music venue in Camden, Primal Scream also displayed the words \u201cOur government is complicit in genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n The band Primal Scream have got some strange taste in background videos, like Netanyahu with swastikas in his eyes\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/d3fPOk7tkX<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 The Electronic Uprising (@uprising_1) December 11, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n The display adds to a growing list of anti-Israel stunts involving British bands in recent months. In April, the Irish rap group Kneecap set off a wave of anti-Israel protests by music groups after they displayed the words \u201cF\u2013k Israel. Free Palestine\u201d<\/a> during their set at the Coachella music festival.<\/p>\n After one of the band members, Liam O\u2019Hanna, was hit with a terrorism charge for displaying a Hezbollah flag at another concert the previous year, Primal Scream was one of dozens of U.K. artists<\/a> that rushed to Kneecap\u2019s defense. (The terrorism charges against O\u2019Hanna were dropped<\/a> in September.)<\/p>\n Primal Scream is also one of the most prominent acts to demand in recent months that its music not be available on the music platform Spotify to listeners in Israel, out of protest against Israel\u2019s conduct during the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cI was at this gig, and I was horrified,\u201d one concertgoer wrote in a post on X<\/a> about the latest show. \u201cThis transcends opinions on Zionism \u2013 the imagery was blatantly racist. I can guarantee that Primal Scream has just pushed hundreds of people away from their cause, by exploiting the war in Gaza to be edgy. Warped and self-indulgent.\u201d<\/p>\n The Community Security Trust, a Jewish security organization, reported the incident to police. London\u2019s Metropolitan Police confirmed it had received a report that was being assessed.<\/p>\n \u201cCST is appalled by the grossly antisemitic image displayed at Primal Scream,\u201d the Community Security Trust said in a statement. \u201cEntwining a Star of David with a swastika implies that Jews are Nazis and risks encouraging hatred of Jews.\u00a0 There needs to be an urgent investigation by the venue and the promoter about how this happened and we will be reporting to the police.\u201d<\/p>\n Roundhouse issued an apology for the display, saying that it was \u201cappalled that antisemitic imagery was displayed\u201d in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe deeply regret that these highly offensive images were presented on our stage and unequivocally apologise to anyone who attended the gig, and to the wider Jewish community,\u201d the statement said. \u201cThe content, which was used entirely without our knowledge, stands against all of our values.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the backlash to the incendiary display, Primal Scream, which was founded in Glasgow in 1982 by Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie, brushed off criticism in a post on Instagram<\/a> Friday, writing that it was a \u201cpiece of art.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt clearly draws from history to question where the actions of world governments sit in that context. It is meant to provoke debate, not hate,\u201d the post said. \u201cIn a free, pluralistic and liberal society freedom of expression is a right which we choose to exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t