Kneecap have spoken about the “real issue” of anti-Semitism, and reaffirmed that they are “against discrimination in any form”.
The comments from the Irish hip-hop trio come following the High Court dismissing a terror charge against one of its members, Mo Chara, and later rejecting an appeal by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Chara (real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh), was charged with the offence for allegedly displaying the flag of Hezbollah – a proscribed terrorist organisation – and shouting “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah,” during a gig in London back in 2024. The band, who have continuously denied supporting either Hamas or Hezbollah, argued that the footage from the gig had been taken out of context and described the legal action as a “carnival of distraction”.
The rapper also maintained that he didn’t know what the flag was when he picked it up, and the band invited fans to gather in support when they made three court appearances.
The decision to throw the charges out was reached in September, and decided due to technicalities relating to the way in which the case was brought about. An appeal was then made by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in January, but thrown out on March 11 after two high court judges stood by the initial decision.
Now, the band have spoken out about the controversy surrounding them, and hit back at any accusations of being anti-Semitic.
When speaking to The Big Issue, the trio were asked if they had any regrets over the November 2024 London gig, to which Chara replied: “I don’t think my lawyer would be too happy about me mentioning anything about it.”
He then went to to discuss what it is like to be on stage, adding: “When you’re playing a gig it’s impossible to be perfectly conscious all the time. I don’t remember all – and that’s not just from drink, that’s pure adrenaline. I can’t be completely responsible all the time.”
Chara went on to double down on their stance that Kneecap are “against discrimination in any form”. Sharing that he believes ant-Semitism is “terrible” and a “real issue”, he accused some people of diluting the term and using it as a way to quiet down people who speak out about issues with Israel’s government. “When you start labelling bands and people who speak out against Israel as anti-Semitic, what you do is water that term down,” he said, adding: “We are not anti-Semitic.”
Bandmate Móglaí Bap then chimed in and agreed, referring to their own roots. “Look, we’re from the north of Ireland. We know about fucking religious conflicts, people using religion as a way to murder, maim and all this stuff,” he told the outlet. “We have gone through that as a country and we want nothing to do with it.”
The comments from Chara about running on “pure adrenaline” are similar to those he shared with The Guardian last summer, in which he addressed the Hezbollah flag incident directly.
“It’s a joke. I’m a character,” he said at the time. “Shit is thrown on stage all the time. If I’m supposed to know every fucking thing that’s thrown on stage, I’d be in Mensa, Jesus Christ.”
“I don’t know every proscribed organisation – I’ve got enough shit to worry about up there. I’m thinking about my next lyric, my next joke, the next drop of a beat,” he added.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed his frustration at the decision from the High Court dismissing a terror charge against Kneecap and later rejecting the appeal – saying that what the trio stand for is “completely intolerable”.
“Fuck Keir Starmer, a man who couldn’t get us cancelled from Glasto,” the band wrote on X in response, referring to the PM’s push to have them kicked off the 2025 line-up for their vocal support of Palestine.
“A man who couldn’t beat us in court, a man who has destroyed the Labour Party, [and a] man whose government supports war criminals in Israel with weapons and intelligence,” they added.
They also hit out at Starmer last summer, accusing him of “Arming a fucking genocide”, and then criticising him during their performance on the West Holts stage at Glasto.
When speaking to NME last year, Starmer doubled down on his stance against Kneecap, and explained why he spoke out in an attempt to have them booted from the festival line-up. His stance was opposed by Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who recently told NME that it was “not [Starmer’s] place to say” whether or not the band could perform.
Kneecap hit out at the PM again when they dropped the single ‘Liars Tale’ at the start of this year, which called him a “scumbag”. That song will feature on their new album ‘FENIAN’, which is out via Heavenly Recordings on April 24.