Tory leader Kemi Badenoch among those criticising Kneecap for 'glorifying evil'
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch was among those hitting out at Kneecap over the footage which has emerged showing a member waving a Hezbollah flag” and shouting “up Hamas" and “up Hezbollah".
She noted that last year the government had attempted to halt an arts grant which the group was due to be given.
At the time, the then-business secretary Mrs Badenoch explained her intervention by saying “we fully support freedom of speech, but it's hardly surprising that we don't want to hand out UK taxpayers' money to people that oppose the United Kingdom itself" – a reference to Kneecap’s frequent republican rhetoric.
Now Mrs Badenoch has said: “In government I blocked Kneecap getting taxpayer funding. Labour didn't contest the legal case the band brought and they walked away with £14,250 of our money.
"Perhaps now Labour see Kneecap openly glorifying evil terror groups, they will apologise for rolling over. But I doubt it.”
Kneecap’s Twitter feed is a mix of republican messaging and anti-Israel messaging.
So far this year Kneecap's tweets have included (on January 25, in reference to the release of four female soldiers held by Hamas): "Despite the photos you’ll see today the 4 Israeli 'hostages' were serving occupying soldiers from the IOF… F**K ISRAEL."
They also called Israel “evil C***S", adding that there is "no word for the depths of their evil".
Meanwhile the band calls for a boycott of Reebok for sponsoring the Israeli football association.
Another tweet says "don’t forget the British government still occupy Ireland... free the six counties".
Still others show the band in front of the Bobby Sands IRA mural on the Falls Road, mocking Glasgow Rangers, posing with Irish Hollywood actors Colm Meaney and Cillian Murphy, and celebrating BBC Radio 1 adding their music to its playlist.
Footage of a concert of theirs in Melbourne, Australia on March 13 shows band members saying Ireland has been "plagued by the f**king Brits... we're obviously from west Belfast and Derry, a place still under British occupation".