Rebel music: Kneecap and Gaza

An Irish language rap group has, improbably enough, become the focus of global media attention and political debate. Why? For describing Israel's actions in Gaza as a genocide and accusing the United States of complicity before an approving crowd at the music festival Coachella. In this episode, Naomi and Tim explain the origins of Kneecap in the movement for Irish language rights, the controversies about the band as its fame grew to ever greater heights, and why it now appears to be becoming a test case for the freedom of cultural figures to speak out about Palestine. A new bonus episode in which Naomi and Tim take questions from listeners about the Irish language and generational trauma is available on patreon.com/theirishpassport. You can also listen to our 2020 Halfpint about Kneecap and the politicisation of the Irish language here:

You can listen to Rebel music: Kneecap and Gaza online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Rebel music: Kneecap and Gaza is an episode from The Irish Passport by The Irish Passport.

This episode is 00:59:46 long.

This episode was published on Jul 6, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Irish Passport when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.