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

A High Court judge in Ireland granted on Wednesday the Irish rap band Kneecap permission to file a defamation lawsuit against a Canadian indigenous leader, who signed an open letter accusing the group of supporting the terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah.

Harvey Yesno of the Eabametoong First Nation signed a statement published last July by the groups Indigenous Embassy Jerusalem in partnership with Allied Voices for Israel and the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation. The statement asked Live Nation in Toronto and MRG Group in Vancouver to not provide Kneecap venues on ancestral lands in the Canada for two performances in October 2025 because of their alleged support for the US and UK-designated terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah.

Kneecap argue that the statement contain false and defamatory claims, according to The Jewish Chronicle. They claim in their lawsuit that the statement falsely accuses them of expressing support for Hamas and Hezbollah and condoning antisemitism and genocide, which they deny. The band’s members are Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin and JJ Ó Dochartaigh, but they are better known by their respective stage names Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí. They are suing Yesno for financial damages, claiming the statement he signed caused damage to their reputation.

O hAnnaidh was previously charged in the UK with a terror offense for displaying a Hezbollah flag during the band’s performance in north London in November 2024 and allegedly voicing support for the terror groups, which is a crime in the United Kingdom. However, the charges were dropped last September. At the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California last year, Kneecap projected an anti-Israel message on stage that said: “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes. F–k Israel. Free Palestine.”

On Wednesday, Irish High Court Judge Cian Ferriter granted Kneecap’s legal counsel permission to serve notice of the defamation lawsuit on Yesno, in both Irish and English, in Ontario, Canada, The Jewish Chronicle reported. Ferriter ruled that the band could argue they were defamed in Ireland, which allowed them to file the lawsuit there instead of in Canada. The judge said their reputations and connection to the Irish language and culture were “bound up” with Irish jurisdiction, because of their citizenship and status as public figures in the country. Ferriter also noted that he would welcome application from Yesno’s legal counsel to challenge the jurisdiction ruling, The Jewish Chronicle noted.