Belfast musician Mo Chara, whose real name is Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, is accused of displaying Hezbollah flag at gig
The criminal case against the Kneecap rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh should be thrown out, a court has heard.
Ó hAnnaidh, who performs with the band under the stage name Mo Chara, will have to wait until 26 September, when the chief magistrate, Paul Goldspring, will rule on whether he has the jurisdiction to try the case.
The Belfast musician was greeted by hundreds of supporters as he arrived at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday for a three-hour hearing.
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During the hearing on Wednesday, his defence team argued the case should be thrown out, citing a technical error in the way the charge against him was brought.
Brenda Campbell KC told the court the attorney general had not given permission for the case to be brought against the defendant when police informed him he was to face a terror charge on 21 May. She said consent was given the following day, but that meant the charge fell outside the six-month timeframe in which criminal charges against a defendant can be brought.
The prosecutor Michael Bisgrove said permission was not required until the defendant’s first court appearance and that permission did not need to be sought in order to bring a criminal charge.
dizzy: I can anticipate Mo Chara appealing if it comes to that. It’s almost as ridiculous as people charged under terrorism laws for holding a placard! It’s widely accepted that it’ s the UK government that needs to be charged and prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAVote Labour for Genocide.
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Smoke and dust rising over the destroyed and heavily damaged residential areas following the Israeli attacks on western Gaza City, Gaza on August 18, 2025. [Moiz Salhi – Anadolu Agency]
Mediators are awaiting Israel’s response after Hamas accepted a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap proposal, Qatar said on Tuesday, Anadolu reports.
In a news briefing in Doha, Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari called Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal “very positive” and “almost identical” to what Israel agreed to.
The current proposal is “the best that can be offered at present, and the best possible option to stop the bloodshed of the Palestinian people,” he added.
“We are still waiting for the Israeli response after Hamas accepted the plan,” the spokesman said.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, for his part, said “significant progress” has been made on reaching a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
“The ball is now in Israel’s court,” Abdelatty said in comments cited by a Foreign Ministry statement.
According to the ministry, the top diplomat held “intensive contacts” with several foreign officials, including Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
Hamas said on Monday that it had accepted a proposal by Egyptian and Qatari mediators for a Gaza ceasefire, without providing details about the proposal’s content.
Israeli public broadcaster KAN, citing unnamed sources, said the new Egyptian-Qatari proposal closely resembles US envoy Steve Witkoff’s original plan, which called for the release of 10 living hostages and 18 bodies in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire and negotiations to end the war.
According to Egyptian media, the proposal calls for Israeli forces to reposition near the border to facilitate humanitarian aid entering Gaza and a temporary halt to military operations for two months to facilitate a prisoner-hostage exchange.
According to Israeli estimates, around 50 captives remain in Gaza, including 20 believed to be alive, while Israel is holding more than 10,800 Palestinians in its prisons under dire conditions, with rights groups reporting deaths due to torture, hunger and medical neglect.
Israel has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
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Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Vote Labour for Genocide.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Palestinians carry the body of Gaza correspondent for Qatar-based Al Jazeera television Anas al-Sharif, who was killed in an attack by the Israeli army on a journalists’ tent near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza Strip on August 11, 2025. [Ayman Majed Harb Alhisi – Anadolu Agency]
Israeli forces killed an Al Jazeera news team near al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Sunday evening. The team’s tent was struck by Israeli warplanes, resulting in the deaths of five journalists and their driver.
The journalists killed included correspondents Anas Al Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and Moamen Aliwa, and their driver Mohammed Noufal.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) acknowledged the strike and claimed Anas Al Sharif was a Hamas cell leader responsible for rocket attacks. Human rights organisations and press freedom groups—such as the United Nations and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)—denounced the claim as unsubstantiated. Al Jazeera rejected the allegations, calling the attack an attempt to silence its reporting.
Al Jazeera described the strike as “yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom” ahead of a possible occupation of Gaza. The network and press freedom advocates warned that targeting media workers threatens press safety in conflict zones and diminishes independent coverage.
Anas Al Sharif, aged 28, was especially known for his courageous frontline reporting from northern Gaza. He was seen as a “voice” for the hungry and bereaved in the Gaza Strip, especially with the intensification of the Israeli siege on the Strip.
Journalists Al-Sharif and Qureiqa were keen to convey the voice of civilians and the hungry in the Gaza Strip to the world and expose the crimes of the occupation.
Al-Sharif had been subjected to continuous and repeated incitement from Israeli officials and electronic media.
Days before his death, he warned of intense bombardments and emphasised the suffering of civilians in Gaza.
Al Jazeera called on the international community and all relevant organisations to “take decisive measures to halt this ongoing genocide and end the deliberate targeting of journalists”.
Since the conflict began on 7 October 2023, more than 200 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera and Gaza authorities.
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Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAVote Labour for Genocide.
Palestinian children wait for food at a charity kitchen in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, on 22 July 2025 (AFP)
Official X account of Israel and some pro-Israeli social media users have launched a campaign denying there is hunger in Gaza
An Israeli campaign on social media this week is claiming there is no hunger in Gaza, while Palestinians have been documenting people dying from starvation due to the Israeli-imposed blockade on the strip.
The official X account of the State of Israel has shared numerous posts suggesting that images of starving and malnourished children being shown across the world are fabricated, claiming that the children are suffering from other illnesses, such as “cystic fibrosis”.
In recent weeks, many international organisations, as well as the Palestinian health ministry, have warned of looming famine in Gaza.
The United Nations has warned of “catastrophic hunger” in Gaza and said the entire population of over two million people is severely food insecure. “One out of every three people has not eaten for days, and 80 percent of all reported deaths by starvation are children,” the agency said.
While the death toll in Gaza is now over 60,000, at least 154 people have died due to malnutrition and starvation in the enclave, according to various news reports and international organisations.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Vote Labour for Genocide.
