‘We Condemn All Attacks on Civilians, Always’

Irish rap trio Kneecap posted a lengthy statement online Monday after their messages critiquing Israel at Coachella ignited controversy earlier this month.

“They want you to believe words are more harmful than genocide,” began the group’s statement shared on social media. “Let us be unequivocal: we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah. We condemn all attacks on civilians, always. It is never okay. We know this more than anyone, given our nation’s history.”

While critics have accused Kneecap of making statements in the past supporting the violent actions of Hamas and Hezbollah, the group denied this, alleging that any reports to this effect were the result of “establishment figures” who “combed through hundreds of hours of footage and interviews, extracting a handful of words from months or years ago to manufacture moral hysteria” in an attempt to silence the rap group. In the U.K., the trio has also been accused of inciting violence against members of Parliament; they denied this as well, and addressed the families of two murdered MPs, writing, “We send our heartfelt apologies, we never intended to cause you hurt.”

Kneecap are from Belfast, in the north of Ireland, where sectarian violence claimed many lives before the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. In their statement Monday, the band accused the British government of continuing “to supply arms to Israel” and claimed “the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine.”

Kneecap reiterated that their “message has always been — and remains — one of love, inclusion, and hope,” asserting that “No smear campaign will change that.”

Addressing their controversial festival performances, the group wrote, “Days after calling out the US administration at Coachella to applause and solidarity, there is an avalanche of outrage and condemnation by the political classes of Britain.”

“The real crimes are not in our performances; the real crimes are the silence and complicity of those in power,” the band ended in their message. “Shame on them.”

During Kneecap’s first Coachella performance, the group had planned to have several projections with messages about Gaza on them. However, the projections didn’t make it onstage, and the set was cut short on Coachella’s YouTube livestream. “We only heard about it the next day and haven’t heard from anyone officially,” band member Mo Chara told Rolling Stone at the time.

The second weekend, the projections read, “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” and were followed by, “It is being enabled by the U.S. government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes.” A final screen displayed the words “Fuck Israel. Free Palestine,” and by the end of the set, the crowd was chanting “Free Palestine.”

The description of Israel’s reprisals in Gaza after the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, as genocide has been highly contentious. Humanitarian groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have used that term, as have many others; former president Joseph R. Biden and the American Jewish Committee, among other groups that support Israel, have strongly objected to this framing.

Kneecap’s Coachella performances sparked outrage from pro-Israel groups, with organizations and public figures denouncing the group. Last week, Sharon Osbourne called for the band members’ visas to be revoked, accusing their projections of promoting “anti-Israel messages and hate speech.” When asked about Osbourne’s tweets, Mo Chara responded, “Her rant has so many holes in it that it hardly warrants a reply, but she should listen to ‘War Pigs’ that was written by Black Sabbath (her husband).”

From Rolling Stone US.