News Brief

Despite Jewish protests, a rock band whose songs allegedly glorify Nazis will be allowed to play in Australia.

Marko Perkovic and his band Thompson were issued visas Dec. 21 by the Department of Immigration to enter the country. Thompson will play four concerts between now and New Year’s Day.

The group’s music allegedly glorifies the Ustashe, the puppet wartime regime in Croatia that killed thousands of Jews.

The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission condemned the decision to let Thompson play in Australia.

“It does not augur well that the new Labor government as one of its first acts permitted the entry into Australia of a person who is a beacon for racists and neo-Nazi youth,” President Michael Lipshutz said in a statement.

But Anton Bloch, the president of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, the umbrella body of the Jewish community, told the Australian Jewish News he believes the band has a right to perform so long as it abides by the law.

“Thompson has a right to perform their music in Melbourne,” he said. “However, we ask that they respect our laws and recognise that Nazi-era symbols are treated in Australia with the contempt and abhorrence that they deserve.”

Thompson, which also played in Australia in 2005, is scheduled to play in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.