Massive Attack have issued a statement in support of Kneecap, arguing the uproar over the group’s criticism of Israel and support of Palestine at Coachella is a distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza and what they also described as a genocide of Palestinians.
The trip-hop greats, as they noted in their statement, have long spoken out against what they called Israel’s “illegal occupation, apartheid system, and killing with impunity of thousands of Palestinians.” The group added that, as such, they are “hyper aware of both the human cost of abject political silence, and the commercial implications of publicly expressing solidarity with an oppressed people.”
Massive Attack continued, “But do politicians and right-wing journalists strategically concocting moral outrage over the stage uttering of a young punk band, while simultaneously obfuscating or even ignoring a genocide happening in real time (including the killing of journalists in unprecedented numbers) have any right to intimidate festival events into acts of political censorship? Kneecap are not the story. Gaza is the story. Genocide is the story.”
They also said the British government’s “silence, acquiescence, and support of those crimes against humanity” was “the real story.” Massive Attack closed by saying, “Solidarity with all artists with the moral courage to speak out against Israeli war crimes, and the ongoing persecution and slaughter of the Palestinian people.”
Kneecap, who are from Belfast in the north of Ireland, have courted plenty of controversy over the past few years, though it’s been primarily centralized in the U.K. and Ireland, and focused more on the group’s left-leaning, Irish republican politics. Support for Palestine, though, has long been a key issue for the group, and during the second weekend of Coachella, they flashed projections that read, “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” and, “It is being enabled by the U.S. government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes.” A final screen read, “Fuck Israel. Free Palestine.” (Kneecap claimed a similar message shown onstage during weekend one was cut from the Coachella livestream.)
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The description of Israel’s reprisals in Gaza, following the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, as genocide has been highly contentious. Humanitarian groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are among the most prominent groups to use the term. In a ruling last year, the United Nations’ International Court of Justice said it was “plausible” that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, though has yet to make an official ruling or call for a ceasefire. Israel and its supporters — including the United States — have denied these claims and objected too this framing.
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Pro-Israel groups and supporters have widely denounced Kneecap since Coachella, but the group has largely stuck by their statements. On Monday (April 28), however, they were forced to issue a statement rejecting claims that they had voiced support for Hamas and Hezbollah. The group said these allegations were the result of “establishment figures” who “combed through hundreds of hours of footage and interviews, extracting a handful of words from months or years ago to manufacture moral hysteria” in an effort to silence the group.
“We condemn all attacks on civilians, always. It is never okay. We know this more than anyone, given our nation’s history,” Kneecap said, alluding the long history of sectarian violence in the north of Ireland.
