Irish rap band Kneecap made global headlines recently as they reiterated their passionate stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict at the Coachella music festival in Southern California. “F—k Israel, Free Palestine” was the cry as the Belfast group brought their support for the Palestinian people to the international eye.
The American media has been quick to condemn this as “antisemitic extremism” and “using the dance floor to spread hate,” without clarifying the true political identity of the group and the objective of their protest.
To understand Kneecap’s opposition to the Israeli government, it is vital to be aware of the reason for their involvement in the debate in the first place. The Israeli occupation of Palestine bears similarity to the hundreds of years of oppression experienced by the Irish people at the hands of the English, and the Irish as a collective feel a sense of empathy toward the Palestinian community for this shared history. Kneecap’s political awareness and activism is who they are, and they are vehement in their support of the Palestinian people.
This is the very fact that many news outlets will fail to mention: Kneecap are activists for the people. Their protest for Palestine is no more than the one for their own home — freedom for our people, and accusations of antisemitism are misinformed and inaccurate. In their own words, “We (Kneecap) don’t care about religion.” Their opposition is aimed solely at government, illustrated in past exchanges with British administration, as they donated a grant awarded by the Music Export Growth Scheme (with significant British resistance) to two youth organizations who work with Catholic and Protestant children in Belfast — the two religions at the heart of Northern Ireland’s violent history.
Israel is a country steeped in religious significance and history, yet criticism of its political policies does not equate to an attack on Judaism. Kneecap’s political stance is just that – political. Past words and actions attest to this. Proclamations of “F—k Israel” are aimed at Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, bearing no disrespect to the country’s rich Jewish heritage. To do so would violate their values and would be an insult to the movement they have established in Ireland.
It would be remiss not to mention the undeniable presence of those who use the false pretense of a pro-Palestinian opinion to spew antisemitic hatred, as this is a very real issue, but shoving Kneecap under this umbrella is a blind assumption. They are playing a role that is vital in the modern world — people brave enough to use their platform to draw attention to injustice, the very opposite of the hate they are accused of spreading. Kneecap stand for the oppressed the world over, regardless of race, nationality or religion, and their campaigning is for the good of the Palestinian people and humanity as a whole.
