Hungarian authorities have banned the Irish rap group Kneecap from coming into the nation, accusing them of partaking in “antisemitic hate speech” and “supporting terrorism”.
Kneecap have been set to carry out on the Sziget Pageant, happening from 6 to 11 August in Budapest.
The Belfast-based band, which regularly shares pro-Palestinian messages throughout its reveals, has attracted controversy in current months after accusing the Israeli authorities of committing “genocide” in Gaza.
Hungarian authorities spokesman Zoltan Kovacs mentioned on Thursday that the band’s members “repeatedly engage in antisemitic hate speech supporting terrorism and terrorist groups”.
“Hungary has zero tolerance for antisemitism in any form,” Kovacs mentioned on X, including that the band’s deliberate efficiency “posed a national security threat,” and the band has due to this fact been formally banned from coming into Hungary for 3 years.
“If they enter, expulsion will follow under international norms,” Kovacs added.
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Kneecap performing through the Glastonbury Pageant in June. Pic: Reuters
Responding to the spokesman’s feedback, Kneecap mentioned “there is no legal basis” for Hungary’s resolution and that “no member of Kneecap has ever been convicted of any crime in any country”.
“It is clear that this is a political distraction and a further attempt to silence those who call out genocide against the Palestinian people,” the band mentioned in a press release on X.
Throughout Kneecap’s gig at Britain’s Glastonbury Pageant in June, frontman Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, performing below the stage title Mo Chara, accused Israel of conflict crimes in Gaza.
Forward of the gig, Prime Minister Keir Starmer mentioned he would not suppose Kneecap’s deliberate efficiency was “appropriate”.
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Moglai Bap and Mo Chara of Kneecap carry out at Glastonbury. Pic: Reuters
Kneecap referred to as the investigation “political policing intimidation”.
Mo Chara has been formally charged with a terrorism offence after allegedly displaying a flag in help of the militant group Hezbollah throughout a gig in November. He denies the offence.
Hezbollah is designated as a terrorist organisation by the UK and the US.
