Kneecap band member Liam O’Hanna displaying the Hezbollah flag at a November 2024 concert. (Screenshot)
(JTA) — A member of the Irish rap group Kneecap has been charged with a terrorism offense for displaying a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London last year, a month after the group displayed a “F— Israel” projection at the U.S. music festival Coachella.
London’s Metropolitan Police announced the charge in a press release Wednesday, saying that Liam O’Hanna, 27, has been charged with the crime for displaying the flag at a November 2024 concert in a way that would “arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organisation, namely Hizballah.”
O’Hanna, whose stage name is Mo Chara, is one of Kneecap’s three members. He is scheduled to appear in court on June 18.
The charges come three weeks after Kneecap issued a statement denouncing Hamas and Hezbollah at the urging of the Irish prime minister. In a resurfaced video of the concert, O’Hanna was seen with the Hezbollah flag draped over his head cheering, “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah.”
Last month, U.K. police announced they were investigating that concert video along with another of a concert from 2023 in which a band member says, “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”
The group came under local scrutiny after igniting criticism with its Coachella performance, which included the anti-Israel display. Following the performance, Jewish TV personality Sharon Osbourne called for the Trump administration to revoke the band’s work visas in advance of its scheduled U.S. tour.
On Wednesday, the American Jewish Committee cited O’Hanna’s terror charge as further evidence that Kneecap’s tour should not be allowed to proceed.
“You 👏 can’t 👏 wave 👏 terror 👏 flags 👏 without 👏 consequences. We commend British police for charging Liam O’Hanna, a member of the Irish rap band Kneecap, with a terrorism offense for displaying a Hezbollah flag at a concert,” the group said in a statement on X. “It’s disgraceful that the band remains scheduled to perform at venues across Europe and the U.S.”
