The Times of Israel on Monday reported that Guns N’ Roses guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, born Ronald Jay Blumenthal, played Hatikva, the Israeli national anthem, after being asked asked by a fan backstage.

Citing a blogger, Darren Garnick, who had been invited backstage with a group of other fans by Thal last week, The Times tells what transpired.

The group, Garnick said, spoke mostly about burgers while Thal strummed his guitar.

Remembering that the guitarist had, two years previously, given a solo rendition of Israel’s national anthem “Hatikva” (The Hope) to the shaky accompaniment of the crowd, Garnick took a chance and blurted out, “Up for some Hatikvah?”

Though Garnick suspects that most of the fans with him “probably thought ‘Hatikvah’ was a new kind of bean dip,” Thal understood and played the anthem.

The Times also reported that Thal also showed off a hamsa amulet that he had received from Israel, and said that he was “’open to the possibility’ that the amulet would bring him good fortune.”

The 2012 show when Thal first played Hatikva was the band’s first show in Israel since 1993.

Check out the Facebook page of The Israel Project, publisher of TheTower.org, to see Bumblefoot supporting the #BringBackOurBoys campaign.

[Photo: Darren Garnick / YouTube ]