UK counter-terrorism police are looking into the hip-hop Irish duo Kneecap after footage surfaced purportedly showing the group yelling “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” and demanding the assassination of politicians. It follows criticism of the trio, who are outspoken opponents of Israel’s assault in Gaza, for their anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian remarks during last month’s Coachella music festival.
Following intense condemnation of the band’s claimed remarks, which resulted in the cancellation of some of their planned performances, the British police launched an inquiry. Additionally, several MPs are urging Glastonbury organizers to remove Kneecap from the event lineup for next month. Dozens of musicians and artists, meantime, have endorsed the group’s right to free speech in an open letter.
Video that purports to show one of the group’s members yelling “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” in November of last year has been making the rounds online in recent days. Separately, footage from November 2023 seems to show one Northern Ireland-born gang member stating: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory.” Assassinate your local MP. MP stands for Member of Parliament, while Tory is another synonym for Conservative. Jo Cox and David Amess, two British Members of Parliament, have been killed in the last ten years.
Kneecap has expressed regret to Cox and Amess’s families. It said that it has never backed Hamas or Hezbollah and that the video that is making the rounds online has been “deliberately taken out of all context” as part of a “smear campaign” after they criticized Israel and the US during the Gaza War.
In a statement released, the London Metropolitan Police Service said that it was aware of the video and that counterterrorism detectives were looking into it. According to the police statement, “specialist officers assessed both videos after they were referred to the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit, and they concluded that there are grounds for further investigation into potential offences linked to both videos.”
Following the band’s Coachella performance, in which they led the audience in chanting “Free Free Palestine,” both videos have gone viral online. They also criticized US support for the war and Israel’s campaign in Gaza, which the country’s health ministry claims has killed over 52,000 Palestinians.
Brendan Cox told Sky News that the band’s apology was “not enough.” In 2016, his wife was shot and stabbed to death by a far-right fanatic when she was meeting with her constituents.
“What is evident about the video is that it was incitement to violence against members of parliament, not a joke or out of context,”
he stated.
Cox went on to say that Kneecap’s remarks “went too far in a grotesque manner,” placing them on the “wrong side of people who might agree with them” over topics like Northern Ireland and Gaza.
A number of the band’s planned shows have been cancelled since the videos surfaced.
The group planned three gigs in Berlin, Hamburg, and Cologne. However, all have also been cancelled. They also declared that they will not be appearing at Hurricane or Southside Festival, two of Germany’s largest music festivals, this year. The Eden Project in Cornwall, southwest England, has cancelled another concert that was planned to happen there.
