Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Irish rappers Kneecap have used graphic language during a performance at a British music festival to condemn Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Kneecap was the headline slot at the Reading Festival on Sunday, declaring from the stage: “f*** Benjamin Netanyahu”, in the latest politically charged performance from the West Belfast trio.
With a Palestinian flag draped over the DJ deck, the trio, consisting of rappers Moglai Bap, Mo Chara and DJ Provai – who has been replaced with an alternative due to the arrival of his newborn child – got the crowd jumping with hits from their latest album FENIAN as well as 2024’s Fine Art, with some political messaging interspersed into their set.
“It’s important to us that we use this platform for what we believe to be right, and some people aren’t as f****ing lucky right now, and that’s our brothers and sisters in Palestine,” the band said midway through their set on the final day of the festival.
“So I just need to take some time to show some solidarity as Irish people; we understand displacement, colonialism and forced starvation of a population that we see right now in Palestine.
“So just remember how lucky we all are to be in a field with all our best f***ing mates listening to tunes, and let’s be thinking at the same time about our Palestinian brothers and sisters, so f*** Benjamin Netanyahu, and free, free Palestine!”
In a second speech, the band encouraged the crowd to call the new British prime minister a “wanker”.
“Andy Burnham said a united Ireland is off the table, so everybody: ‘Andy Burnham’s a wanker”.
The band’s controversy precedes them, with member Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, accused of displaying a flag in support of proscribed terror organisation Hezbollah at a gig at the O2 Forum in London, in 2024.
But the case was thrown out in September, with the chief magistrate ruling the proceedings were “instituted unlawfully”, with a subsequent appeal by the Crown Prosecution Service being dismissed by two High Court judges in March.
