Members of Kneecap pose on the red carpet at the Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) Awards in Dublin, Ireland, Feb. 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

Israel’s Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar shared his thoughts with The Algemeiner on Tuesday about the mounting pressure that Glastonbury Music Festival organizers are facing to disinvite the anti-Israel, Irish rap group Kneecap from the annual event taking place next month in the United Kingdom.

Several government leaders and Members of Parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom, as well as Jewish organizations and pro-Israel supporters in the entertainment industry, have called on Glastonbury organizers to remove the Belfast-formed band from the festival’s lineup of performers because of their anti-Israel comments, alleged support for the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations, and incitement of violence against British MPs. Kneecap is scheduled to perform on June 28 at Glastonbury.

Kneecap band member Liam O’Hanna, 27, was charged on May 21 with a terrorism offense in the UK for displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig in North London last November. Hezbollah is a UK-designated terrorist organization and it is an offense under the UK’s Terrorism Act of 2000 to support the Iran-backed Islamist group. Kneecap criticized the terrorism offense in a released statement in which they also accused Israel of genocide and proclaimed, “Free Palestine.”

When asked if he supports efforts to have Kneecap banned from Glastonbury because of their offensive and controversial remarks, Zohar began by saying, “Israel doesn’t support boycotts. We want that everybody will respect each other. We want that people will respect Israel and we’re trying to do our best to respect other people, also the people who are not supporting Israel.”

“[But] there is a big difference between someone that is not supporting Israel and people that is calling to destroy Israel or calling to make terror actions against Israel,” he added, differentiating between legitimate criticism of Israeli politics and calls to carry out violence against the state of Israel. “Everyone that will call to attack Israel or make terror actions against us, of course I think they should not be participating in events because they are supporting terror and calling for destroying Israel. But if some other organizations people or bands are against Israel because they don’t think the same way that Israel thinks, we don’t call for boycott because this is not the way that we act.”

“Unfortunately, those who are against Israel … the truth is not something that they care about,” Zohar continued. “We say if people call for terror actions or to destroy Israel, yes, they cannot participate in events. But if people don’t support Israel, we respect that and we’re fine with that. But we won’t allow [them] to spread lies against our country and we will continue to say the truth.”

In April, the northern Irish band displayed anti-Israel messages — including “Free Palestine, F–k Israel” — during their set at the Coachella Music Festival in California. Videos from a Kneecap concert in November 2023 show one member of the Irish rap trio calling for the murder of British MPs by saying, “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.” Another clip, from a Kneecap concert in London in April 2023, appeared to show a member of the trio shouting: “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah.” In April, Kneecap apologized and clarified its remarks from 2023 and 2024 in a released statement.

During their performance at Glastonbury last year, Kneecap displayed on screen the message “Free Palestine” and another message that erroneously accused Israel of murdering over 20,000 children. The trio additionally led the audience in chanting “Free, free Palestine.”

Kneecap has also repeatedly posted anti-Israel messages on social media, such as accusing the Jewish state of genocide and calling the country “the most depraved regime on earth.”

Several of Kneecap’s festival appearances for this summer have already been canceled – including at Germany’s Hurricane Festival and Southside Festivals, the Eden Project concert series in the UK, and a replacement show in Plymouth.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is among the UK politicians calling for Kneecap to be removed from the Glastonbury lineup, while Security Minister Dan Jarvis said Glastonbury organizers should “think very carefully” about allowing the band to perform at the festival. British television personality Sharon Osbourne, who is also the wife of Black Sabbath lead singer Ozzy Osbourne, demanded that Glastonbury ban the “pathetic band full of hate” from performing at the festival. “I pray that they are [banned] and if they’re not, shame on Glastonbury,” she said during an appearance on “Piers Morgan Uncensored.”

Among those who have sent letters to Glastonbury organizers protesting Kneecap’s scheduled appearance include a Holocaust survivor, Labour MP David Taylor, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and Shadow Home Secretary and MP Chris Philp. British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin have also condemned the band.

When asked about Kneecap, former British Attorney General Sir Michael Ellis urged music festival organizers to properly go through their lineup of artists before allowing them to perform. “I do think that it’s an obligation, especially after what happened at Coachella, that Glastonbury and other festivals here in the UK have a responsibility to really check those bands whose behavior may cross that line,” he told Britain’s news channel GB News. Meanwhile, Scottish First Minister John Swinney has called for Kneecap to be removed from the line-up of Scotland’s TRNSMT music festival in July.

Zohar told The Algemeiner that he has not been in touch with any member of the UK government about Kneecap’s upcoming performance at Glastonbury. He suggested that the British government does not typically take enough action when needed to condemn anti-Israel behavior or comments.

“The UK a lot of times, unfortunately, are supporting these kinds of comments and they also make bad decisions in those actions, like to cancel agreements with Israel, and that’s something we don’t respect and agree with,” Zohar said, apparently referring to the British government’s recent decision to halt free trade talks with Israel. “The UK is very, very hard to talk with about these issues. They are not supportive so much. Hopefully they will change their ways and realize the truth — that we are the good people. Eventually they need to know that they are next, because when the terror groups finish with us, they will come for them. Because they are a part of the free world.”

On May 23, just days after a band member was charged with a terrorism offense, Kneecap headlined London’s Wide Awake music festival, where they led the audience in chanting “free, free Palestine.” O’Hanna told the crowd that authorities were “trying to silence us” before Glastonbury and asked fans not to be “on the wrong side of history.”

“The world’s not listening,” he said. “The world needs to see solidarity of 20,000 people in a park in London chanting, ‘free free Palestine!'”

“Let’s remember how lucky we are to be in a field with our friends and not being bombed from the sky,” added Kneecap’s frontman Mo Chara.

Last week, Kneecap released a new song called “The Recap” featuring Mozey. It begins with an audio clip of a news report about the band being investigated by counter-terrorism police.

Update: Kneecap announced on X that its scheduled performance at the TRNSMT festival has been cancelled “due to concerns expressed by the police about safety at the event.” The band will instead perform at O2 Academy on July 8. Following the update about TRNSMT, the 2000trees festival confirmed that Kneecap will still perform at their event set for July 9-12 in Cheltenham, England.