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Israeli Minister Comments on Calls to Boycott Irish Rap Trio Kneecap From Glastonbury Music Festival
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 for 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.
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.
The post Israeli Minister Comments on Calls to Boycott Irish Rap Trio Kneecap From Glastonbury Music Festival first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays
A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.