Kneecap have been given the green light to instigate defamation proceedings in Ireland against Harvey Yesno, one of nine Indigenous leaders in Canada who last year signed a statement calling for the band’s planned shows in Toronto and Vancouver to be cancelled.
The band claim that that statement falsely accused them of condoning antisemitism and supporting Hamas and Hezbollah, and in doing so damaged their reputations. Kneecap’s 2025 North American tour did not go ahead amid criticism of the band and their on-stage criticism of Israel.
Although Yesno is based in Canada, Irish Judge Cian Ferriter yesterday gave Kneecap’s legal reps permission to file a defamation lawsuit with the High Court in Dublin. According to The Irish Times, the judge concluded that the band had met the “requisite legal test” by making “an arguable case that they had been defamed in this jurisdiction”.
Kneecap’s legal action is being handled by Belfast-based law firm Phoenix Law, which is also representing Bob Vylan in the two defamation claims they have made in the Dublin courts against broadcasters BBC and RTÉ, also over allegations of antisemitism.
The statement backed by Yesno, a political figure from the Eabametoong First Nation in Canada, was published in July last year amid speculation over whether Kneecap’s then planned tour of the US and Canada would go ahead. Many critics had called for those shows to be cancelled ever since the band played Coachella 2025 over their forthright on-stage criticism of Israel and support for Palestine.
Among other things, the statement said that “Kneecap has outwardly supported antisemitism, genocide and the indiscriminate murder of civilians”, and therefore “allowing them to play in Canada would be a stain on our country’s reputation”.
At the time, Canada’s National Post also quoted Yesno directly. He said that, while Canada was “a land of freedom to express yourself”, if someone is “inciting hate and violence” and “acknowledging” organisations that Canada has deemed to be terrorist organisations, “that’s where we draw the line”.
“As the Indigenous people on these lands”, he went on, “we have a responsibility to point out, hey, wait a minute, you can’t be doing that - you can’t be inciting violence here on our lands because the defilement of the land causes things to happen amongst the people”.
Kneecap - who have strongly denied all allegations that they are antisemitic - say that the allegedly defamatory statement Yesno backed first appeared on the website of Indigenous Embassy Jerusalem, a pro-Israel organisation. And that Yesno himself has publicly advocated for the state of Israel which, they add, is actively engaged in campaigning against them and their music.
If these and the Bob Vylan defamation lawsuits get to court - and assuming both acts can show that the antisemitism allegations caused them damage - the cases will centre on the tricky issue of if and when criticism of the state of Israel can constitute antisemitism.
Though before that, Judge Ferriter did say Yesno could challenge his decision to allow the defamation lawsuit to be filed with the Irish courts on jurisdiction grounds. Which may as yet happen.