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The Northern Irish rap trio Kneecap have described a terror offence charge against one of its members as “political policing” that is intended to stifle criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza.
“14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again the British establishment is focused on us,” the group said in a statement on X on Thursday. “This is a carnival of distraction. We are not the story, genocide is.”
On Wednesday Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, 27, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged with a terrorism offence for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig in London. Under the name Liam O’Hanna he is scheduled to appear at Westminster magistrates court on 18 June.
The Metropolitan police said the rapper was accused of displaying the flag at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town on 21 November last year “in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organisation”.
The Met’s counter-terrorism command was made aware on Tuesday 22 April of an online video from the event and carried out an investigation, which led to the Crown Prosecution Service authorising the charge, the force said in a statement.
The Northern Ireland band said it would vehemently contest what it called a politically motivated charge. “A charge not serious enough to even warrant their crown court, instead a court that doesn’t have a jury. What’s the objective? To restrict our ability to travel. To prevent us speaking to young people across the world. To silence voices of compassion. To prosecute artists who dare speak out.”
The trio accused the British authorities of abetting slaughter by the Israel Defense Forces. “The IDF units they arm and fly spy plane missions for are the real terrorists, the whole world can see it.”
Kneecap’s advocacy for Palestine came under intense scrutiny after it used a performance at the Coachella festival in California last month to denounce Israeli attacks on Gaza.
A video emerged from a November 2023 gig appearing to show one of the trio saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.” Another video appeared to show a banner supporting Hezbollah. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are banned in the UK and it is a crime to express support for them.
The group apologised to the families of murdered MPs and said it did not support Hamas or Hezbollah and said the controversy was an attempt to distract from the bombing and humanitarian disaster in Gaza. The statement on Thursday said the band was on the right side of history.
Campaign Against Antisemitism, which reported Kneecap to counter-terrorism police, welcomed the prosecution. “The law must be enforced.”
Simon Harris, Ireland’s foreign minister and tánaiste, told Dublin’s Newstalk radio that he would not comment on the case but that Hezbollah or Hamas should not be conflated with the Palestinian people. Harris said Israel’s actions in Gaza was “a consistent pattern of war crimes” and that recent statements from the Israeli government meant “we’re very much now in the space of genocidal activity”.
