Kneecap responded after the member of the Mo Chara band was accused of a terrorist crime in the United Kingdom yesterday, derived from an incident in which he allegedly showed a Hezbollah flag on stage during a London concert.
Although the concert took place in November 2024, the London Metropolitan Police only realized the alleged incident in April 2025, when a video of Chara appeared (born Liam Iog or Hannaidh) and the Hezbollah flag online.
«We denied this ‘offensive’ and we will defend ourselves vehemently,» wrote the band on Instagram. «This is political surveillance. This is a distraction carnival. We are not the story. Genocide is. As they benefit from the genocide, they use an ‘anti -terrorism law’ against us to show a flag launched on stage. A position not serious enough to guarantee its ‘crowns cut’, instead that it does not have a jury. What is the goal?»
They continued: «To restrict our ability to travel. To prevent us from talking with young people around the world. To silence the voices of compassion. To prosecute artists who dare to speak. Instead of defending innocent people, or the principles of international law who claim to maintain, the powerful in Great Britain have picked up the slaughter and hungry centuries now, as now, they claim that justification. »
The statement concluded: «We are proudly with people. You are complicit in war criminals. We are on the right side of the story. It is not. We will fight on your court. We will win. Free Palestine.»
The concert in question took place in the O2 forum in Kentish Town in London, on November 21, 2024. In the video that has circulated, you can listen to the trio of Irish rap shouting «Hamas, by Hezbollah», in addition to telling the multitude of conservative British politicians, «the only good conservative is a dead tory. Kill his local MP.» Both Hamas and Hezbollah are prohibited in the United Kingdom, and it is a crime to show them support.
After the news of the investigation, Kneecap issued a statement: «Let’s be unequivocal: we have not supported, and we have not supported Hamas or Hezbollah,» and said that the video in question was «an extract of images, deliberately taken from every context, is now being exploited and armed, as if it were a call to action.»
Or Hannaidh received the position of terrorist crime by mail. He must appear before the Westminster Magistrates on June 18.
Kneecap has been solid supporters of Palestine throughout his career, which caused parallels between the oppression of the Irish people by England with the oppression of the Palestinian people by Israel. During its set in Coachella in April, the band shared pro-palestinian statements on stage, which resulted in an expected violent reaction.
At the end of his early set at night, Kneecap transmitted three text screens, which rested on social networks with the legend, «some messages without censorship to Coachella 🤝🇵🇸». The first message said «Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people», followed by «is being enabled by the United States government that arms and finances Israel despite their war crimes» and a final screen that reads, «fuck Israel. Free Palestine.»
Last year, he told Kneecap Rolling stone That «where we are from, everything has to be about politics», pointing out its origins of Northern Ireland. «We are a band, for Fuck’s love. We make music. Obviously, we do things that are political. But I worry that just because we are a band of Belfast that raps in Irish, any type of political crisis, they say: ‘Oh, fucking we ask Kneecap what they think,» said Mo Chara.
He made clear his position: «It doesn’t matter who you are, where are you from. Just because we rapped in Irish and we could not align with your political views, we can be friends with people with whom we do not align politically.»
(Tagstotranslate) Kneecap
