A pro-Israel group has criticised the performance at the Coachella Music Festival on Saturday. Irish hip-hop ACT Kneecap used the platform to accuse Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
During the band’s set inside the Sonora tent, they predicted the word “F-Israel. Free Palestine” on screen, leading the crowd with a “Free Palestine” chant.
“The Palestinians can’t go anywhere. It’s their f— ing family. And they’re bombing them from the sky,” band member Mo Chara told the audience. “If you’re not calling it genocide, are you calling it?”
Kneecap is known for robbing political status on issues ranging from Irish republicanism to the British government, censorship and the Palestinian issue.
In a statement to KTLA 5 News on Monday, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a Jewish human rights group based in Los Angeles, denounced the band’s performance as “burned Cen and anti-Israel hatred.”
Members of Band Knecap, including Mo Chara and Moglai Bap, will perform on stage on the first day of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, held in Indio, California, on April 18, 2025. (Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images of Coachella)
“At the best, music should bring people together and spread empathy rather than hatred,” CEO Jim Burke said. “It is therefore worth noting that Kneecap used the music festival to promote hatred. On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists brutally murdered, raped, burned and lured innocent young people at the Nova Music Festival in Israel.”
Burke invited members of Kneecap and Coachella organizers to participate in discussions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We believe that music and music makers should be part of the solution, not the problem,” he said.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the CEO of Golden Voice, which promotes the Coachella Music Festival, is said to be “blind” by the band’s actions.
The Israel-Hamas War began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprising attack on Israel, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,200 Israeli people and the capture of hostages. In response, Israel carried out massive airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza, leading to the deaths of thousands and the destruction of the massive belt of the Gaza Strip.
KneeCap’s foray into the conflict was not the only dose of politics at Coachella.
Billy Joe Armstrong tweaked the lyrics to Green Day’s set-opening “American Stupid,” declaring that he was “not part of the Magazine Agenda,” and changed the lyrics to “Suburban Jesus” to “Running out of Palestinian Children’s Pain.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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