Hungary bans anti-Israel group Kneecap from entering country for festival performance

Members of the Irish-language rap group Kneecap have been banned from entering Hungary ahead of their scheduled performance at the popular Sziget Festival, with authorities arguing the musicians’ presence in the country would constitute a risk to national security.

The Belfast trio, scheduled to play on Sziget’s closing day on August 11, is known for anarchic energy, satirical lyrics and use of symbolism associated with the Irish republican movement.

It has drawn criticism and police scrutiny, however, after videos emerged allegedly showing the band shouting “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah.”

Hungary’s immigration authority, the National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing, publishes decrees declaring Kneecap members Naoise Ó Cairealláin, J.J. Ó Dochartaigh and Liam Óg ÓhAnnaidh would be banned from Hungary’s territory for three years since their “entry and stay constitute a serious threat to national security.”

Government spokesman Zoltán Kovács writes on social platform X that the decision to ban Kneecap was due to “antisemitic hate speech and open praise for Hamas and Hezbollah.”

Hungarian authorities and other groups had earlier pushed Sziget Festival to cancel the band’s performance. Hungary’s minister for European affairs, János Bóka, noted the government’s “zero-tolerance” policy toward antisemitism in a July 11 letter to the festival’s organizers.

Hundreds of figures from Hungary’s music and cultural community have also signed a petition calling for Kneecap’s performance to be canceled.

The group performed in April at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California, where they accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians, enabled by the US government. That sparked calls for the rappers’ US visas to be revoked and several Kneecap gigs have since been canceled as a result.