Pro-Israel groups are criticizing Saturday’s Coachella music festival performance by Irish hip-hop act Kneecap, which used the platform to accuse Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
During the band’s set inside the Sonora tent, they projected the words “F— Israel. Free Palestine” on a screen and led the crowd in a chant of “Free Palestine.”
“The Palestinians have nowhere to go. It’s their f—ing home. And they’re bombing them from the skies,” band member Mo Chara told the audience. “If you’re not calling it a genocide what the f— are you calling it?”
Kneecap is known for taking political positions on issues ranging from Irish republicanism to the UK government and censorship, as well as the Palestinian issue.
In a statement to KTLA 5 News on Monday, the Los Angeles-based Jewish human rights organization, The Simon Wiesenthal Center, condemned the band’s performance as “incendiary and anti-Israel hate.”
“At its best, music should bring people together and spread empathy, not hate,” said CEO Jim Berk. “It’s therefore remarkable that Kneecap used a music festival to foment hate, exactly the kind of gathering where, on October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists brutally murdered, raped, burned and kidnapped innocent young people at the Nova Music Festival in Israel.”
Berk invited members of Kneecap and the organizers of Coachella to participate in a discussion about Israel-Palestinian conflict.
“We believe music and music-makers should be part of the solution and not the problem,” he said.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the CEO of Goldenvoice, which promotes the Coachella music festival, was “blindsided” by the band’s actions. KTLA has reached out to AEG, Goldenvoice’s parent company, for comment.
The Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise assault on Israel, resulting in over 1,200 Israeli deaths and the taking of hostages. In response, Israel conducted extensive airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza, leading to thousands of deaths and the destruction of a large swath of the Gaza Strip.
Kneecap’s foray into the conflict wasn’t the only dose of politics at Coachella.
Billie Joe Armstrong adjusted the lyrics of Green Day’s set-opening “American Idiot” to declare he’s “not a part of the MAGA agenda” and changed lyrics in “Jesus of Suburbia” to “running away from pain like the kids from Palestine.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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