Diarmuid Pepper Reporting from Electric Picnic

IRISH LANGUAGE RAP group Kneecap used their Electric Picnic set this afternoon to call on the Irish government to amend the law so that the Central Bank can no longer facilitate the sale of Israeli State bonds.

Kneecap played the main stage of the Co Laois festival at 3.30pm and remarked that they have come a long way from playing to 60 people in an Irish language tent at Electric Picnic a few years ago.

Before the band came out on stage, images projected on the big screen read: “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.”

“They are now starving the people of Gaza to death,” added the onscreen projection.

Opening of the @KNEECAPCEOL set at @EPfestival, with a call for the Central Bank to stop facilitating Israeli bonds @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/oiFkX04bNL

— Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) August 30, 2025

Last week, an expert UN committee declared that there is a man-made famine in Gaza.

Kneecap then accused the Irish government of being “complicit in this genocide” because “they facilitate the sale of Israeli war bonds”.

Israeli bonds

Following Brexit, Israel chose the Central Bank of Ireland as the designated authority to approve Israel Bonds sold in the EU, since it could no longer use the UK for this purpose.

Sales of Israel Bonds have surpassed $5 million since the 7 October attacks.

Israel Bonds are advertised as supporting the country’s economy and holders of the securities are promised that the principal and interest will be repaid after the bond matures.

In recent times, websites promoting the bonds emphasise their role in supporting Israel during the war.

Israel president Isaac Herzog has stated that Israel Bonds have a “crucial role during this time of conflict and war”.

In a video to Israel Bonds holders in October 2023, Herzog said the bonds are a means for people “to step forward to do your part in this critical hour”.

The Government was urged earlier this month by the Oireachtas Committee on Finance to engage with the EU to amend the law so the Central Bank can refuse to facilitate the sale of Israeli State bonds.

The committee’s chairwoman, Sinn Féin’s Mairead Farrell, said the Central Bank’s facilitation of Israeli bonds arose as “a matter of concern”.

“No more Israeli war bonds,” read the projection on stage before the Kneecap gig.

Elsewhere, Mo Chara (Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh) said that “until something changes”, Kneecap will “always take time out of every gig to talk about this on stage”.

He then labelled Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” and added: “It’s about time politicians started doing something about it.”

.@KNEECAPCEOL remark that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal during their @EPfestival set, and also call out both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil for their role in the housing crisis. Also say they’ll use every opportunity they have to speak out on Gaza. @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/pQFtoQaaiV

— Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) August 30, 2025

There is an outstanding warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest from the International Criminal Court.  

Netanyahu is wanted for war crimes allegedly committed during Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 63,000 people and reduced most of the territory to rubble. 

He also said both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are “causing the housing crisis and doing fuck all about Palestine”.

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Meanwhile, Móglaí Bap (Naoise Ó Cairealláin) thanked Electric Picnic promoter Melvin Benn.

At a press event earlier this week, Benn said there were no circumstances under which Kneecap would have their mics cut, as happened to The Mary Wallopers who had their sound cut when they displayed a Palestinian flag on stage while performing at the Victorious Festival in Portsmouth.

.@KNEECAPCEOL thank @EPfestival promoter Melvin Benn for booking them on the main stage. They add that some other festivals won’t have them, and have some choice words for Hungarian PM Viktor Orban after the band were banned from a festival in Hungary. @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/h5NzVD0aTJ

— Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) August 30, 2025

“There’s some festivals who are trying to cancel us,” said Móglaí Bap.

“We are banned from Hungary for three years,” he added.

In a post on X in July after Kneecap were banned from Hungary, communications minister Zoltan Kovacs accused the band of “antisemitism” and “glorifying terror”.

The rap trio had been due to play the Sziget festival, one of the largest music and arts events in Europe.

Móglaí Bap then remarked that there is “nothing better than an Irish crowd”.

And at one point during the extremely energetic gig, one of the band members quipped that Kneecap are like “the Wolfetones on cocaine”.