02.04.2026
We will not be silent
Claims by the Irish government to be a staunch ally of Palestine have been well and truly exposed. However, while Micheál Martin kowtows before imperialism, members of Kneecap show a brave defiance. They are far from alone. Anne McShane reports
As the mass movement continues against the US-Israeli onslaught in the Middle East, our taoiseach has been toadyingly pledging his allegiance to the war criminals in London and Washington.
Keir Starmer arrived in Cork on March 12 for a UK-Ireland summit with business leaders and politicians, and Micheál Martin was there to warmly welcome him. His determination to ensure that protestors did not spoil the jamboree meant that the city was practically locked down. The union jack was raised over Cork City Hall, above the monuments honouring the former mayors, Tomas MacCurtain (shot by the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1920), and Terence McSwiney, who succeeded him, and who died on hunger strike in Brixton prison in protest against British rule. Inside, Starmer was treated to an evening of Irish music and poetry, while hundreds of protestors, enraged at the obsequiousness of the occasion, tried to make their voices heard.
The following day, Martin and Starmer agreed a deal to expand and intensify defence cooperation. This will build on the existing deals on maritime and cyber security, as well as information sharing. Again, Sir Keir was shielded from opposition to his visit, as the Public Order Unit closed in on protestors and forcibly moved them on. The POU informed the mounted officers that the order had come straight from the top.
A few days later Martin was off to Washington with his bowl of shamrock, to bow and scrape before the man himself. Loyally defending Starmer against Trump’s complaints that he was not helping with the war on Iran, he urged the great man not to be too angry with the prime minister, stating: “I do believe that he’s a very earnest, sound person that you have a capacity to get along with. You’ve got along with him before.” He also wanted Trump to be less angry with Europe, counselling him to understand that it is “characterised wrongly in terms of it being overrun”, and assuring him that soon there will be even “stronger mechanisms in place” to keep the ‘unwanted’ out. On Iran, Micheál agreed that “everyone accepts that you cannot have a rogue state with a nuclear weapon” but claimed that he was “hoping for peace”.1
At home, the enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill, which seeks to impose a legal boycott of Israeli goods and services from the West Bank, is going nowhere. The legislation was passed in 2018, but the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael coalition has avoided implementing it for the last eight years, claiming ‘legal problems’. Last year they produced a watered-down version of the bill and the tanáiste (deputy premier), Simon Harris, recently made a vague comment that “it could well be put before the Dáil this side of the summer”.
Clearly the very last thing the government wants to do is implement a boycott. It has been warned repeatedly by US governments that there will be a mass exit of US companies if it does - and, of course, now it has the threat of a hike in tariffs under Trump. We need to understand that Ireland is a loyal and very junior member of the imperialist world order and will do nothing to upset its masters. That is why making overtures to the government based on Irish so-called neutrality is a hopeless and delusional activity.
As Martin prepared to welcome Starmer to Cork on March 12, another Irishman, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh (‘Mo Chara’) was celebrating the fact that the day before the court of appeal in London had thrown out allegations of ‘terrorism’ brought against him. Ó hAnnaidh and his bandmates in Kneecap were targeted by the British government because of their outspoken condemnation of it as a supporter of genocide. The witch-hunt against Kneecap began after the Coachella music festival in California on April 11 2025, when they ended their concert by projecting a clear, repeated message: “Israel is committing genocide”; “It is being enabled by the US government, who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes”; ‘Fuck Israel, free Palestine”. In the uproar that followed, Martin pleaded with the group to apologise. But they refused, doubling down on their argument by insisting that it is Israel, the US and the UK which are terrorist states.
The following month, the British counter-terrorism police were instructed to find charges which would stick. A trawl through social media led to Ó hAnnaidh being charged with threatening death to Tories and of supporting a proscribed organisation - Hezbollah. Both of the allegations stemmed from stage performances more than a year before. The first was dropped in July during Glastonbury, where the group was playing - only to be replaced with more allegations said to arise from their performance, which in turn were also dumped for lack of evidence.
Then at Westminster magistrates court on September 26, after three court appearances - each one attended by hundreds of supporters - chief magistrate Paul Goldspring found that the charge of supporting a terrorist organisation was null and void because it had been outside the six-month limit to bring a charge and the police had failed to obtain the permission of the attorney general - essential in terrorism cases. Yet Keir Starmer refused to back down, and the Crown Prosecution Service lodged an appeal in January 2026 - only again to be thrown out on March 11, this time by two judges at the court of appeal. Ó hAnnaidh’s legal team included Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC, who had presented South Africa’s case against Israel before the International Court of Justice in 2024.
After the hearing, his solicitor, stated that the entire affair had been “a legally laughable witch-hunt” that was “born at Coachella, cultivated in Westminster, comes to an end in west Belfast.” Liam Óg asserted:
This entire process was never about me, never about any threat to the public and never about ‘terrorism’ - a word used by the British government to discredit people you oppress both in Ireland and across the world. It was always about Palestine and about what happens if you dare to speak up - about what happens if you can reach large groups of people and expose their hypocrisy.
To their credit, neither he nor other Kneecap members are prepared to stay silent. As Ó hAnnaidh stated, “If anyone on this planet is guilty of terrorism, it’s the British state”. He added: “Free Palestine. Tiocfaidh ár Lá [our day will come].” To ram home their opposition to imperialism the group joined Jeremy Corbyn, Clara López, Pablo Iglesias and Chris Smalls in the Nuestra América Convoy to deliver humanitarian aid, including medicines and solar panels, to Cuba. They want to draw attention to the collective punishment of the nine million Cuban population by the US.
Since Trump forced Venezuela to impose an embargo on oil exports to the island in January, Cuban society has been plunged into an existential crisis. It is almost completely reliant on oil for electricity, but Trump is making sure it gets no more than drip-feed supplies (the arrival of the Russian-owned tanker carrying 750,000 barrels of oil in late March was the first delivery since January). Hence, healthcare in Cuba is now reaching breaking point, as electricity blackouts put patients at serious risk. The system has been in almost permanent malfunction because of a lack of supplies, staff and medicine. Even ambulances are struggling to respond to emergencies. Thousands are waiting for urgent surgery and pregnant women fear giving birth in these appalling conditions.
Meanwhile, many are expecting a US invasion - with Cuban society on its knees. Of course, that will not happen. But that does not stop Trump arrogantly proclaiming that he will take it back (between 1898 and 1902 Cuba was a de facto American protectorate and remained a client state till 1959). On March 16 he announced he would have the ‘honour’ of taking the island over, 67 years after the Cuban revolution: “Whether I free it, take it, I think I can do anything I want with it”.
Cuba’s president Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez responded: “Any external aggressor will clash with an impregnable resistance.” In the meantime, there are behind-the-scenes talks, with claims that Trump wants a compliant puppet regime along the lines of Venezuela (not impossible).
Trump appears to have boundless confidence. That means imperial bullying, war threats and war. Never has the organisation of the international working class been more urgent.