Kneecap band: Irish Jewish community express concern after reports of Belfast band's support for Hamas and Hezbollah

It comes after one of the group appeared to call for Conservative MPs to be killed and another appeared to shout “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” in gig footage .

The band said this week it does not support Hezbollah or Hamas.

Both organisations, proxies of Iran, are classed as proscribed terror organisations in the UK - and in many other countries. It is a criminal offence to support them in the UK.

Chief Rabbi of Ireland Yoni Wieder, from the Dublin Hebrew Congregation, was concerned about support for "genocidal hatred".

"Hamas is a terrorist organisation whose proud goal is the murder of Jews," he said of the band.

"They are responsible for the deadliest antisemitic massacre since the Holocaust. Hezbollah calls the Jewish presence in the Middle East a ‘cancer’ to be eradicated. To cheer for these groups, to cheer ‘Up Hamas, up Hezbollah’, is an endorsement of genocidal hatred".

Irish Jew Daniel O'Dowd, spokesman for the Ireland Ireland Israel Alliance, believes that "the world is finally waking up to the true face of Kneecap beneath the tricolour balaclava".

He added: "What ‘started’ with hatred of Israel and embracing of Palestinian terrorism, ended up with explicit incitement to violence against Members of Parliament.

"This was the group that only a few months ago had – at one of their concerts – the decapitated head of a statue of King George V, ominously stating ‘remember every colony can call.’

"This is a group whose very name – ‘Kneecap’, is derived from the trademark punishment of the IRA. Their brand of divisive and incendiary politics has no place in our communities."

He noted they said this week they do not support Hamas or Hezbollah, “yet video evidence shows them leading chants of ‘up Hamas, up Hezbollah’ and touting their reading of the writings of the Hezbollah leader Nasrallah. It is only right that these incidents are assessed by authorities for prosecution,” he added.