The pearl-clutching over Kneecap is a carnival of distraction from genocide

Kneecap member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh has been charged with a terror offence by the Metropolitan Police. He’s accused of allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag, a group who are a proscribed organisation. That means it’s a crime for anyone to express support for them as they’re considered a terrorist group.

In a statement on their social media, Kneecap said:

We deny this ‘offence’ and will vehemently defend ourselves.

This is political policing.

This is a carnival of distraction.

We are not the story. Genocide is.

Kneecap hit back

Kneecap continued:

Instead of defending innocent people, or the principles of international law they claim to uphold, the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine in Gaza, just as they did in Ireland for centuries. Then, like now, they claim justification.

The IDF units they arm and fly spy plane missions for are the real terrorists, the whole world can see it.

The UK government has licensed at least £500 million worth of military exports to Israel since 2015. About 15% of parts used in F-35 fighter jets are provided by the UK. These same jets are used to bomb Palestinians. As the Campaign Against Arms Trades (CAAT) noted in 2024:

The use of F-35s by Israel in the attack on Gaza has been confirmed since the beginning of the war, including their use to deliver 2000lb bombs.

Since coming into government in July 2024, this Labour administration have approved more arms licenses than the Tory government did in three years. Former Canary editor and current media coordinator for CAAT, Emily Apple, said:

This is the Labour government aiding and abetting Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It is sickening that instead of imposing a full two-way arms embargo, Keir Starmer’s government has massively increased the amount of military equipment the UK is sending to Israel.

Numerous organisations, including United Nations experts, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and more have made it clear that Israel is committing genocide in Palestine.

Who are the terrorists here?

The government’s definition of terrorism when it comes to proscribed organisations is:

the use or threat of action which: involves serious violence against a person; involves serious damage to property; endangers a person’s life (other than that of the person committing the act); creates a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or section of the public or is designed seriously to interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system.

In order to specifically classified as terrorism:

The use or threat of such action must be designed to influence the government or an international governmental organisation or to intimidate the public or a section of the public, and must be undertaken for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.

Israel have moved far beyond being a “serious risk” to the Palestinian public. They have flattened Gaza, destroyed basic infrastructure essential for human survival, bombed schools and hospitals, and terrorised Palestinians. Israeli ministers have repeatedly and consistently demonstrated intent to commit genocide. Intent is usually legally complicated to prove when it comes to determining if the threshold for genocide is met. However, Law for Palestine compiled 500 statements in 2024 which demonstrate intent:

The statements by people with command authority – state leaders, war cabinet ministers and senior army officers – and by other politicians, army officers, journalists and public figures reveal the widespread commitment in Israel to the genocidal destruction of Gaza.

The instances of powerful Israeli stakeholders communicating genocidal intent along with a stated desire to wipe out Palestinian life and culture are shockingly numerous. For example, in 2023 Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said:

We are fighting against human animals.

And, Associate Professor of Law at University of Colorado Law School, Maryam Jamshidi, presented her legal analysis:

Alongside the steep death tool, other “heinous acts” it has committed against the population, as well as its extermination of Gaza’s cultural, religious, and intellectual leadership, Israel’s effort to annihilate Hamas serves as evidence of an intent to physically destroy the Palestinians of Gaza, as such.

Complicity in genocide – but Kneecap is the problem

UN experts warned earlier this month that:

Continuing to support Israel materially or politically, especially via arms transfers, and the provision of private military and security services risks complicity in genocide and other serious international crimes.

This warning could well be the reason that Western states are scrambling to reverse their despicable choice of both allowing and facilitating Israel’s genocide. And, they’ve got some fucking cheek to criticise Kneecap for support of a proscribed organisation. The fact the IDF isn’t a proscribed organisation is, as the group’s statement alludes to, “political policing.”

Kneecap have loudly called for Palestine to be free, and condemned the government’s support of Israel. That’s why they’ve been targeted by the police – for their political opinions. As Kneecap’s manager Daniel Lambert said:

You have a band being held to a higher moral account than politicians who are ignoring international law.

Israel aren’t considered terrorists because they’re strategic political allies of the US, the UK, and other Western states. However, it is possible for a member of Kneecap to be charged with a terror offence because policing is fundamentally political. The state is attempting to exert its control over a dissenting group who object to genocide. It’s that same state who have facilitated Israel’s genocide with political support and arms exports – who are the real terrorists here?

Featured image via the Canary