A rapper from Northern Ireland who has criticized Israel’s war in Gaza was charged with a terrorism offense after he was accused of displaying the flag of the Hezbollah militant group, British authorities said Wednesday.
London’s Metropolitan Police accused Liam O’Hanna, 27, who performs as Mo Chara in the hip-hop trio Kneecap, of violating a provision in the country’s terrorism law that bans people from displaying flags “in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter” of groups the United Kingdom considers terrorists.
The Met said it launched an investigation after it learned of an online video last month that showed O’Hanna displaying the flag of Hezbollah at a venue north of London on Nov. 21.
Representatives for Kneecap did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday night.
Hezbollah, a Shia political party and militant organization based in Lebanon, has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, the U.K. and other countries over its militant activities and its ties to Iran.
The group expressed support for Hamas’ attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel soon after. The conflict exploded into a war that has killed thousands of people in Lebanon and displaced tens of thousands more in Israel.
After Wednesday’s announcement, Kneecap’s X account posted a previous interview with O’Hanna in which he said, “I don’t want to be 80, 90 years of age and my grandkids asking me, ‘Why did nobody do anything about the Palestinian genocide?’ And me sitting there being like, ‘F—, I didn’t do enough.’ I don’t want to be on that side of history.”
“We are clearer than ever on who we are and what we stand for,” the post added.
More than 53,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its bombing campaign and ground invasion after Hamas’ terrorist attack, according to health officials in the enclave. The attack killed more than 1,200 people in Israel, and hundreds more were taken hostage by Hamas militants, according to Israeli tallies.
After a weekslong ceasefire fell apart in March, Israel resumed its bombardment of the enclave, including a series of assaults that killed 300 people in 72 hours this month. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country was “moving toward full control” of Gaza.
Kneecap has described criticism of its outspoken views about the war in Gaza as a “coordinated smear campaign” by those who “want to silence criticism of a mass slaughter. They weaponize false accusations of antisemitism to distract, confuse, and provide cover for genocide.”
After the group performed at Coachella last month in front of a screen that said, “F— Israel, Free Palestine,” the organizers behind Israel’s Tribe of Nova music festival, where hundreds of people were killed in the October 2023 attack, said Kneecap’s messaging was “an affront made even more painful in light of the massacre.”
“We invite the members of Kneecap to visit the Nova Exhibition in Toronto and experience firsthand the stories of those who were murdered, those who survived, and those are still being held hostage,” the organizers said. “Not to shame or silence — but to connect. To witness. To understand.”
O’Hanna is scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 18, the Met said.
