Mo Chara (Naoise O Caireallain), Moglai Bap (Liam Og O Hannaidh), Rich Peppiatt, and DJ Provai of Kneecap attend the 2025 BAFTAs on Feb. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Isabel Infantes

The Irish rap group Kneecap has been dropped from two major music festivals in Germany and must look for a new sponsor for their US work visas after parting ways with their US booking agency, all of which took place after the trio shaed a “f–k Israel, free Palestine” message on stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

While pro-Israel supporters are pressuring other music festivals to remove Kneecap from their event lineups, the Hurricane Festival in northern Germany — which is one of the largest festivals in the country — and its sister event, the Southside Festival in south of the country, announced on Friday that they have both canceled performances from the rap group scheduled for June.

“The band Kneecap will not be performing at Hurricane and Southside Festival this year,” the festivals said in a statement, without giving further details.

During their second set at Coachella earlier this month, Kneecap projected three screens on stage that featured anti-Israel messages. The first screen said, “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” followed by, “It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes.” A third screen displayed the text: “F–k Israel. Free Palestine.” During the performance, group member Mo Chara talked about Palestinians being “bombed from the … skies with nowhere to go.” Kneecap also led the audience to chant, “Free, free Palestine.”

After the anti-Israel display at Coachella, Sharon Osbourne — the wife of Black Sabbath lead singer Ozzy Osbourne and a former judge on “The X Factor” — called for the group’s visas to be revoked. Creative Community for Peace said Kneecap “turned their Coachella debut into a platform for hate,” and that Coachella “owes the Jewish community and the festival attendees an apology.”  The nonprofit organization — which is comprised of prominent members of the entertainment industry — added that it warned Coachella organizers “about Kneecap’s well documented support for terrorism, but they ignored it.”

Kneecap is still scheduled to perform at a sold-out, massive outdoor show in Belfast, in Northern Ireland, in late August. The band will perform at the Belfast Vital festival at Boucher Road Playing Fields on Aug. 29 as special guests of the Irish post-punk band Fontaines DC, whose guitarist said last year “F—k Netanyahu. F—K Zionism. Free Palestine,” referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Kneecap said that 40,000 tickets for the August concert at Boucher Playing Fields sold out in 35 minutes.

Boucher Playing Fields is owned by the Belfast City Council. Some observers have expressed fury that public land is being used to host Kneecap, in light of their recent controversies. However, a spokesperson for the council told the Belfast Telegraph it is not responsible for Kneecap’s appearance, and “events programming remains a matter for the organizers.”

Kneecap has a number of shows listed on its website for the summer outside the US, and they include several major music festivals, such as Primavera Sound in Spain and Glastonbury in England in June. The group is represented by Primary Talent International outside of the US.

The British charity Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) said on Monday that it has sent letters to a number of festivals, including Glastonbury, urging organizers to pull Kneecap from their line-ups. The letters also pointed out several antisemitic remarks and actions that the group has uttered done in the past, which include uploading a post on X in December 2024 that featured a cartoon with the caption “Israel is a terrorist state – F–K ISRAEL,” and a Star of David intertwined with a Nazi swastika.

“Concertgoers must be allowed to enjoy live performances without worrying about whether they may be subjected to open support for proscribed terrorist organizations that have openly declared it their mission to murder Jews,” CAA wrote. “Indeed, venues and events which seek to be inclusive must not permit their facilities to be used to promote racist, divisive and inflammatory content.”

Kneecap is also being investigated by counterterrorism police in the United Kingdom for past comments that have recently resurfaced following the group’s anti-Israel messaging at Coachella. At a concert in November 2024 at the Kentish Town Forum in London, Kneecap voiced support for Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which are US- and UK-designated terrorist organizations. It is also a crime to express support for the terror groups in the UK. A year earlier, at a concert in London in November 2023, one member of Kneecap said: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP [Member of Parliament].”

Metropolitan Police in the UK said on Sunday that videos from both shows are being assessed by its counterterrorism unit “to determine whether any further police investigation may be required,” according to The Times. Tory Party leader Kemi Badenoch demanded that police prosecute Kneecap because of the group’s “dead Tory” comment and Katie Amess – whose father, MP Sir David Amess, was stabbed to death in 2021 – said the rap group should apologize for “saying such dangerous, violent rhetoric.”

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Monday that he does not think “individuals expressing those views should be receiving government funding,” according to the BBC. A UK government spokesperson further denounced Kneecap’s remarks in a statement cited by the Belfast Telegraph.

“We unequivocally condemn threatening remarks made towards any individual,” said the UK government spokesman. “Political intimidation and abuse must have no place in our society. We recognize the chilling effect that harassment and intimidation of elected representatives can have on our democracy. All reports of intimidation, harassment, and threats are taken extremely seriously. We work with the police and Parliament to do everything in our power to crack down on threats to elected officials.”

Meanwhile, Irish Prime Minster Micháel Martin called on Monday for the group to “urgently clarify” their comments in which they appear to show support for Hamas and Hezbollah. Martin said any support for the Iran-backed Islamist terrorist groups, both of which openly call for Israel’s destruction, “would be unacceptable.”

“I think it’s important that free speech is always facilitated and the capacity to speak out and criticize and condemn policies of others. That’s all legitimate. But in terms of life and security and safety of people, that’s a different issue,” he added.

Northern Ireland’s Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald told BBC News NI she did not agree with the group’s comments but then proceeded to make her own anti-Israel comments.

“I think the most outrageous issue facing the world today is the ongoing genocide that we are seeing in Palestine and the bombardment that continues on a daily basis, the blockading of aid, the slaughter of innocent women and children and I think that’s what our focus should be on as an international community in bringing an end to that,” she said.

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Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a press conference following a meeting with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2025. Photo: Tatyana Makeyeva/Pool via REUTERS

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israel of attempting to sabotage the ongoing nuclear talks between the United States and Iran, warning of immediate retaliation to any military strike.

Araghchi said that Tehran was confident in its ability to counter efforts by “malicious external actors” to undermine the country’s foreign policy or dictate its direction, emphasizing that he expected his US counterparts to adopt a similar stance.

“Israel’s fantasy that it can dictate what Iran may or may not do is so detached from reality that it hardly merits a response,” the top Iranian diplomat wrote in a post on X on Monday.

“What is striking, however, is how brazenly Netanyahu is now dictating what President Trump can and cannot do in his diplomacy with Iran,” Araghchi said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments calling for the dismantling of Tehran’s entire nuclear program.

“There is no military option, and certainly no military solution. Any strike will be immediately reciprocated,” he continued.

Israel’s fantasy that it can dictate what Iran may or may not do is so detached from reality that it hardly merits a response.

What is striking, however, is how brazenly Netanyahu is now dictating what President Trump can and cannot do in his diplomacy with Iran.…

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) April 28, 2025

On Sunday, Netanyahu said that the only “good deal” between Washington and Tehran would be one that dismantled “all of [Iran’s nuclear] infrastructure,” drawing a parallel to Libya’s 2003 agreement with the West, which resulted in the country halting its nuclear, chemical, biological, and missile programs.

Netanyahu also said he had urged US President Donald Trump to ensure that any nuclear agreement between the two countries prevents Tehran from advancing its ballistic missile program.

“We are in close contact with the United States. But I said, one way or the other, Iran will not have nuclear weapons,” the Israeli leader said at a conference organized by the Jewish News Syndicate.

Tehran has previously rejected halting its uranium enrichment program, insisting that the country’s right to enrich uranium is non-negotiable, despite Washington’s threats of military action, additional sanctions, and tariffs if an agreement is not reached to curb Iran’s nuclear activities.

In his response to Netanyahu, Araghchi also accused him of misleadingly framing their talks with Washington as a revival of the JCPOA — a now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal that had imposed temporary limits on Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanction relief.

“Conveniently, Netanyahu’s Allies in the Failed Biden Team — who failed to reach a deal with Iran — are FALSELY casting our indirect negotiations with the Trump administration as another JCPOA,” Araghchi wrote.

“Many Iranians no longer believe the JCPOA is sufficient. They seek tangible dividends. Nothing Netanyahu’s Allies in the Failed Biden Team say or do will change this reality,” he continued.

On Saturday, Washington and Tehran concluded their third round of nuclear talks in Oman, with discussions on technical topics like uranium enrichment and sanction relief.

As part of Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran — which aims to cut the country’s crude exports to zero and prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon — Washington has been targeting Tehran’s oil industry with mounting sanctions.

“The talks in Muscat were positive and productive. There is still much to do, but further progress was made on getting to a deal,” a senior US official said in a statement sent to reporters.

Earlier this month, the two adversaries held their first official nuclear negotiation since the US withdrew from a now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal. The second round of talks took place in Rome on April 19.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi, who is serving as a mediator between the two parties, announced that both sides agreed to meet again on May 3 in Europe for the next round of talks.

Despite Iran’s claims that its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes rather than weapon development, Western states have said there is no “credible civilian justification” for the country’s recent nuclear activity, arguing it “gives Iran the capability to rapidly produce sufficient fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons.”

The post Iran Warns of Immediate Retaliation to Any Israeli Strike Amid Nuclear Talks With US first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Palestinian Authority’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa signed a Memorandum of Understanding in London, April 28, 2025. Photo: Screenshot

The United Kingdom signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Monday to advance “Palestinian statehood” as part of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy hosted the PA’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa in London, marking the first official visit by a PA leader to the UK since 2021.

“This visit marks a significant step in strengthening our relationship with the Palestinian Authority — a key partner for peace,” Lammy said, emphasizing that Britain is dedicated to recognizing a “Palestinian state at a time that will have the greatest impact.”

The MoU reiterates the British government’s recognition of the PA as the sole legitimate governing power in the “Occupied Palestinian Territories,” rejecting any role for the terrorist group Hamas — which violently eliminated its Palestinian opposition in a brief conflict in 2007, taking full control of Gaza after winning legislative elections the prior year. It also underscores the importance of reunifying Gaza and the west Bank under PA control.

“The UK will continue to press for a return to the ceasefire and a return of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” Starmer wrote in a post on X.

“We are committed to a two-state solution, with lasting peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” Lammy added.

The British government also announced a £101 million ($135 million) aid package intended to provide humanitarian relief, stimulate economic development, and strengthen governance reforms in Gaza and the West Bank.

The UK designated Hamas as a terrorist organization in 2021, expanding its previous designation of only the group’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, to include its political entities, arguing that Hamas operates as a unified organization rather than separate branches.

Last week, Hamas announced it is challenging its designation through a legal petition seeking to be removed from the country’s list of proscribed terrorist groups.

The MoU comes amid international concerns about the PA’s ability to govern the war-torn enclave during reconstruction efforts, with leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron calling for reforms to boost the PA’s credibility.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas has previously called on Hamas to release the Israeli hostages held in Gaza, cede control of the war-torn enclave, and give up its arms. However, Hamas has previously rejected calls to disarm — a key condition in ceasefire negotiations with Israel and the United States.

The PA has attempted to publicly separate itself from Hamas while simultaneously pursuing Palestinian reconciliation talks. However, PA officials have regularly rationalized Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, in some cases even denying it took place or falsely claiming Israeli forces carried out the onslaught that started the Gaza war.

The PA, which has been riddled with accusations of corruption, has also long maintained a so-called “pay-for-slay” program, which rewards terrorists and their families for carrying out attacks against Israelis, leading critics to question whether the PA can effectively govern Gaza.

Earlier this month, Macron said that France could recognize a Palestinian state at a United Nations conference in June, prompting criticism from Israeli officials and French Jewish leaders, who stated that such a move would only reward terrorism.

Last year, Spain, Norway, Ireland, and Slovenia recognized a Palestinian state, claiming that this approach would contribute to fostering a two-state solution and promote lasting peace in the region. At the time, Israel condemned the decision as an “incitement to genocide” against the Jewish people.

Out of the 27 European Union member states, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Sweden have also recognized a Palestinian state.

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