British police say Mo Chara displayed a flag of Lebanon’s Hezbollah at a concert.

A member of the Irish rap band Kneecap has been charged with a “terrorism” offence in the United Kingdom for waving a flag of the armed Lebanese group Hezbollah at a concert in November 2024 in London.

Liam O’Hanna, whose stage name is Mo Chara, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on June 18, charged under the Terrorism Act, British police said on Wednesday.

Kneecap has been vocal in its support for the Palestinian cause since the October 7, 2023-led Hamas attacks and Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, equating the struggles of the Irish under British colonial rule to that of Palestinians under that of Israel.

Pro-Palestinian chants are a regular fixture in their gigs. The band says they have been targets of a smear campaign for calling out Israel’s genocidal war.

  • Mrkawfee@feddit.uk
    9·
    4 days ago

    Meanwhile at least 80 UK nationals are serving in the IDF cheerfully committing war crimes.

    Keir Starmer is breaking UK law and has lied to Parliament about sending weapons and intelligence to a country that is plausibly committing genocide according to the ICJ.

    But yeah Kneecap waved a flag.

    • hitmyspot@aussie.zone
      5·
      3 days ago

      What’s also forgotten for those that say how genocide is hard to prove and debatable, is that under the Geneva convention, countries are obliged to intervene if there is a risk of genocide. Intervene doesn’t mean give more weapons.

  • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
    103·
    4 days ago

    I don’t like them and completely disagree with what they did and everything they do, but to charge someone for a “terror offence” for a flag is stupid. Just because I hate what they stand for doesn’t mean that they should be charged with a terror offence for it.

    Also, their thing is literally dressing up in PIRA getup, once they depicted a burning police vehicle. Things that are more realistic and definitely close to home in west Belfast, and the PIRA is a clear enemy of the Crown and the United Kingdom and it’s people as a whole. Could possibly be something that you could argue is actually inspiring terrorist activity. And they’re allowed to do it. But display the flag of a foreign organisation which is an enemy of Israel? which I think you could agree is far less consequential than the attitude they are promoting at home. Full force of the law.

    Something is up. If the aim was actually preventing realistic terrorism, they would have been nicked years ago.

    • ohulancutash@feddit.ukEnglish
      62·
      4 days ago

      HAMAS and Hezbollah are proscribed terrorist organisations, hence the prosecution. The IRA is also proscribed, so they’ve been dancing with disaster for a while.

    • Mrkawfee@feddit.uk
      42·
      4 days ago

      It’s not just Kneecap. Journalists, activists and academics are all being arrested under the Terrorism Act for the crime of highlighting israel’s genocide.

      This is the crushing of dissent. No different to Russia or China.

      • NotBillMurray@lemmy.world
        7·
        3 days ago

        Hey, so that quote isn’t from Voltaire, it’s from noted white nationalist and convicted pedofile Kevin Alfred Strom. I get the sentiment behind why you posted it, but in its full context the meaning is pretty gross.

        • Mrkawfee@feddit.uk
          2·
          3 days ago

          Thanks for the clarification. I do think that, as an axiom, it holds up pretty well in the context of the continual deplatforming, deportation , cancellation, defunding and arrest of supporters of Palestine and critics of Israel everywhere.