Kneecap: A shot in the dark in the face of truth

Kneecap have ruffled the feathers of Britain's law and order makers who are charging the rap trio's Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh with a terrorism offence after they unearthed a video of him waving an Hezbollah flag at a London gig. Liam, who performs under the name Mo Chara, is to appear at a court in Westminster on June 18.

Benjamin Netanyahu has more than ruffled the feathers of European leaders. In a post on X the Israeli Prime Minister said Hamas wanted to "destroy the Jewish state" and "annihilate" the Jewish people. "I could never understand how this simple truth evades the leaders of France, Britain, Canada and others," Netanyahu said. "I say [to them] when mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers thank you, you’re on the wrong side of justice."

The leaders condemned the Israeli Government’s "egregious" actions in Gaza, warning that the allies would take "concrete actions" unless Netanyahu changed course.

The Kneecap 'scenario' goes way beyond and above a day in a magistrate's court in London. The terrorism charge is arguably an assault on artistic freedom and the abysmal application of law in a context aimed at the ruination of a rap group delivering a message in a creative context that may indeed offend some, but is emphatically not a threat to the British state nor public safety.

(Hezbollah is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK. It supports the people of Palestine through acts of terror. Based in Lebanon it has essentially been dismantled recently by Israeli indiscriminate air attacks).

From the days of Pete Seeger's We Shall Overcome and Dylan's Masters Of War to Barry McGuire's Eve Of Destruction, there have always been those who condemn wrong, by means of their art. When the Sex Pistols proclaimed God Save The Queen/The Fascist Regime – just a couple of decades after the war against Nazi Germany – some people were, indeed, angered, as was the punk band's intention. Nobody was criminalised.

When Sinéad O'Connor ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II on America's Saturday Night Live to protest against clerical child sex abuse, no incitement-to-hatred charges were levied. Some people were offended, but it was not a crime to offend. It is still not.

Many would seem to agree. Kneecap the other day sold out a surprise gig in London in just 90 seconds, with 2,000 still on a waiting list – just hours after Ó hAnnaidh was charged.

The 27-year-old is a self-proclaimed anti-colonial rapper from west Belfast, coming to manhood in an age where authoritarian intolerance is on the rise.

No one in their right mind supports the abhorrent actions of Hezbollah or Hamas. Violence is never the answer to achieve political aims. It only lengthened the division on this island through its armed campaign of murder and violence we timidly or tweely termed The Troubles. (Cue, the Wolfe Tones' 'Up The Ra').

Much more efficient and ruthless than either Hamas or Hezbollah in its use of violence is the Israeli State. For one murder by Hamas, it kills a score of Palestinians. Yet, it is not an offence to fly the Israeli flag.

The horror of the slaughter of hundreds of Palestinians by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on a daily basis for the last 18 months has dulled our senses, as we turn over the newspaper page or the TV channel. Seemingly, rendered numb by the 52,000 Palestinians slain to date in Gaza, the majority of them women and children, world leaders have taken no action, bar issuing totally ineffective condemnations, which leaves them open to Netanyahu's cries of "anti-semitic".

Their failure to act has given the rightwing leader licence to do whatever he wants and he has declared he wants to rid Gaza of its rapidly declining 2.3 million population. Leaders have turned their backs on their moral responsibility and the inaction seems like complicity, what with Netanyahu’s declared aim to "go in and finish the job".

As Ian Kilroy, a lecturer in journalism at Technological University Dublin, says: "Israel is supported by the establishment. It is offered public platforms to distort the truth and justify its mass killing. When the rules are changed to criminalise even symbolic protest, it threatens to destroy the freedoms we have cherished and long enjoyed. We need to stand with Kneecap."

Meanwhile, children are starving to death in Gaza and the West Bank. And the world stands idly by, incapable of standing up to the tyrants.

Who dares speak...?