Counter terror police assessing Kneecap concert video
Counter terror police are assessing a video reported to be from a concert by Irish rappers Kneecap.
A social media clip of the hip hop trio on stage appeared to show one member of the group shout "up Hamas, up Hezbollah".
The footage was posted online by Danny Morris from the Jewish security charity, the Community Security Trust.
He said it was from a gig last November at London's Kentish Town Forum.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: "We have been made aware of the video and it has been referred to the counter terrorism internet referral unit for assessment and to determine whether any further police investigation may be required."
Hamas and Hezbollah are both proscribed as terrorist groups in the UK. Under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, it is an offence to express "an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation".
Sky News has contacted Kneecap's management for comment.
Read more from Sky News:
It comes after TV personality Sharon Osbourne called for Kneecap's US work visas to be revoked over their pro-Palestinian statements at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival on 18 April.
In November last year, Kneecap won a discrimination case against the UK government after former business secretary Kemi Badenoch refused them funding.
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San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
‘I do not feel safe': City College of S.F. instructor shaken by union leader's verbal attack
An instructor at City College of San Francisco says she is concerned for her safety a week after a union leader ridiculed her Jewish name and called her a 'colonizer' during a 90-second, expletive-laden rant at a public board meeting as the school's trustees looked on. 'The trustees don't have my back,' Abigail Bornstein, a computer science instructor, told the Chronicle on Wednesday. 'I'm out here on my own.' In addition to calling Bornstein a 'colonizer,' an apparent reference to Israel, Maria Salazar-Colon, president of the campus chapter of the Service Employees International Union Local 1021, mocked Bornstein's name, calling her 'Abigail Dumbstein.' Bornstein reported the May 29 incident to the college's human resources department and, on Wednesday, to campus police Chief Mario Vazquez, saying in the email she shared with the Chronicle: 'I do not feel safe on campus.' The union is powerful, she added: 'This is David vs. Goliath.' By not halting the verbal attack, the board appeared to violate its own policy recommending that the trustees bar 'profanity, obscenity, and other offensive language' at meetings, Bornstein said in her police report. City College is under a warning sanction for three accreditation violations by its trustees — including that they fail to follow their own policies. Although the college is fully accredited, it has been unable to receive a seven-year extension of its accreditation since January 2024, when the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges slapped it with the warning, its mildest sanction. College officials told the accreditors in February that they are addressing the trustees' violations, including by trying to hire a permanent chancellor to replace the interim chancellor who has held the position for the past year. The accreditors were meeting Thursday and Friday to determine whether to lift the sanction, extend it or add to it. The accreditors told the Chronicle they are also looking carefully at City College's efforts to hire a chancellor, a process that has stalled just three weeks before the interim leader is expected to vacate the position. Asked Wednesday why the college's Board of Trustees did not stop the verbal attack on the instructor, Anita Martinez, the board's president, told the Chronicle that she had referred the question to City College interim President Mitchell Bailey. Bailey then shared a statement from Martinez and Luis Zamora, the board's vice president, supporting civility and apologizing 'to those who experienced such incivility.' The incident happened shortly after 11 p.m. at the trustees' last board meeting, after Bornstein began speaking at hour 6:57:50 on the recording. Bornstein, who frequently addresses the trustees about the college's precarious budget, spent her two-minute time slot opposing something that the SEIU — which represents hundreds of staff members — dearly wants: for the college to reopen its contract negotiations and provide a raise to match the 14% pay increase won by the faculty union over the past three years. Basing salary decisions on the idea that 'if they get that, I get this — that is not how we should be budgeting,' Bornstein said, urging the board to instead adjust pay based on what the competition earns elsewhere. After another speaker a few minutes later, Salazar-Colon, the union president, told the trustees that she was going to speak about 'that big mouth that's always in here.' 'I really wish that that colonizer, Abigail Dumbstein, would shut her damn mouth and not speak on SEIU items,' Salazar-Colon said, saying the instructor was 'dumber than a bag of rocks.' Salazar-Colon said Bornstein shouldn't meddle in fiscal issues, which she called 'our damn business.' She then said Bornstein should 'shut the f— up. … I'm sick of her s—. Shut the f— up.' One of the trustees, Aliya Chisti, interjected: 'President Martinez, we need to make sure that we're mindful of the comments that are being made.' But Salazar-Colon was allowed to go on. 'I'm gonna make whatever comment I want because I'm tired of it,' she said, criticizing the trustees for allowing Bornstein to frequently address the board, and urging them to 'put her in her place.' Bornstein later told the Chronicle that the 'attack on me was so vile. President Martinez should have hit her gavel within the first five seconds when Maria said 'that colonizer Abigail Dumbstein.' She did nothing.' Salazar-Colon told the Chronicle she was referring questions to a spokesperson, who sent a response on behalf of the union leader: 'While the wording could have been different, the intention was not to disparage anyone's religion or culture but express an ongoing frustration with Ms. Bornstein, based on her repeated undermining of our union's efforts to lift up (college staff) of all religions, cultures, and backgrounds.' Bornstein also reported to the police and to the trustees that she received a follow-up email from Salazar-Colon that she considered threatening for its aggressive tone and because it concluded: 'Good riddance.' That email, which Bornstein shared with the Chronicle, demanded that Bornstein 'stop with your deranged, racist, elitist, horrible, filthy lies that come out of your spiteful mouth! It seems like you might be feeling a bit envious!' The email said, in all capital letters, 'YOU LACK THE POWER TO STOP OR CONTROL SEIU, AND YOU NEVER WILL! ACCEPT THAT, COLONIZER!' Bornstein later emailed the board, saying that she had not slept well since the meeting and the 'antisemitic, vile attack on me.' Darlene Alioto, chair of the college's Department Chairpersons Council, criticized the board's tolerance of the attack in an email to the trustees that she shared with the Chronicle. The message was one of many calls and emails the board received condemning the attack. 'This behavior would not be allowed in my classroom; this behavior would not be allowed in my home. Why is it allowed at board meetings?' Alioto wrote, calling the board's acceptance of the rant 'disgusting' and Salazar-Colon's follow-up email to Bornstein 'antisemitic.' In their apology, Martinez and Zamora acknowledged that the trustees 'did not do enough to uphold the standards of respect that our community deserves.' Going forward, they wrote, the board 'will no longer tolerate such behavior' and was 'committed to reinforcing the expectation that all voices can be heard without fear of intimidation or harm.' The accrediting commission, which was meeting this week, has 30 days to issue its decision about the status of City College's sanction.
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
Hamas says it killed 12 Israeli-backed fighters. Israeli-supported group says they were aid workers
CAIRO — A unit of Gaza's Hamas-run police force said it killed 12 members of an Israeli-backed Palestinian militia after detaining them early Thursday. An Israel-supported aid group, however, said the dead were its aid workers, eight of whom were killed when Hamas attacked its bus. It was not immediately possible to verify the competing claims or confirm the identities of those killed. The militia, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, said its fighters had attacked Hamas and killed five militants but made no mention of its own casualties. It also accused Hamas of detaining and killing aid workers. The deaths were the latest sign of turmoil surrounding the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private contractor that Israel says will replace the U.N. in distributing food to Gaza's more than 2 million people. The past two weeks, dozens of Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded in near daily shootings as they try to reach GHF centers, with witnesses saying Israeli troops nearby have repeatedly opened fire. On Wednesday, at least 13 people were killed and 170 wounded when Israeli forces fired toward a crowd of Palestinians near a GHF center in central Gaza, according to al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. The military said it fired warning shots overnight at a gathering that posed a threat, hundreds of meters (yards) from the aid site. Internet and phone lines, meanwhile, were down across Gaza, according to telecom provider Paltel and the Palestinian telecoms authority. They said a key line was severed during an Israeli operation and that the military would not allow technicians into the area to repair it. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports. The U.N. humanitarian office, known as OCHA, said emergency services were cut off because of the outage, and civilians cannot call ambulances. It said most U.N. agencies and aid groups could not reach their staff on the ground. Israel has barred international journalists from entering Gaza, making it difficult to confirm what happened in the killings early Wednesday near the southern city of Khan Younis. GHF said Hamas attacked a bus carrying more than two dozen of its Palestinian aid workers, killing at least eight and wounding others. It said it feared some had been abducted. 'We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms,' it said. 'These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons, and friends, who were risking their lives every day to help others.' The Israeli military circulated GHF's statement but declined to provide its own account of what happened. Rev. Johnnie Moore, a Christian evangelical advisor to President Trump who was recently appointed head of GHF, called the killings 'absolute evil.' The U.N.'s OCHA said it could not confirm the circumstances of the killings but said 'civilians must never be attacked, let alone those trying to access or provide food amid mass starvation.' GHF says its staff at the centers include unarmed Palestinian employees. Much of the staff are armed international contractors, mainly Americans, guarding the centers. The Abu Shabab group fighters are deployed inside the Israeli military zones that surround the GHF centers, according to witnesses. Earlier this week, witnesses said Abu Shabab militiamen had opened fire on people en route to a GHF aid hub, killing and wounding many. GHF says it does not work with the Abu Shabab group. Last week, Israel acknowledged it is supporting armed groups of Palestinians opposed to Hamas. Hamas has rejected the GHF system and threatened to kill any Palestinians who cooperate with the Israeli military. The Sahm police unit, which Hamas says it established to combat looting, released video footage showing several dead men lying in the street, saying they were Abu Shabab fighters who had been detained and killed for collaborating with Israel. It was not possible to verify the images or the claims around them. Mohammed Abu Amin, a Khan Younis resident who was at the scene, said a crowd celebrated the killings, shouting 'God is greatest' and condemning those killed as traitors. Ghassan Duhine, who identifies himself as deputy commander of the Abu Shabab group and a major in the Palestinian Authority's security forces, issued a statement saying Abu Shabab fighters had clashed with Sahm and killed five. He denied that the bodies in Sahm's images were the group's fighters. The Palestinian Authority, led by rivals of Hamas and based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has denied any connection to the Abu Shabab group. But many of the militiamen identify themselves as PA officers. Aid workers say Gaza is at risk of famine because of Israel's renewed military campaign and its two-and-a-half-month ban on imports of food, fuel and medicine to Gaza, which was slightly eased in mid-May. OCHA warned that fuel 'may very soon run out' at 67 of the 85 remaining partially functioning hospitals and health care centers in Gaza, meaning vital equipment would go dead. Despite the easing of the blockade, Israel has still not allowed fuel to enter. OCHA said the military gave it permission to retrieve fuel stored in northern Gaza after weeks of denials, but the team sent Wednesday had to turn back because of Israeli shelling in the area. The United Nations and major aid groups have rejected the GHF distribution system. They say it is unable to meet Gaza's needs and allows Israel to use food as a weapon to enact its military objectives, including plans to move Gaza's entire population to southern Gaza near the GHF hubs. Some fear this could be part of an Israeli plan to coerce Palestinians into leaving Gaza. Israel and the United States say the new system is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid from the long-standing U.N.-run system. U.N. officials deny there has been any systematic diversion of aid by Hamas. The Israeli military on Thursday released what it said were seized Hamas documents showing it takes aid. One document, apparently showing minutes from a meeting last year, included an item saying the Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, had previously taken 25% of the aid but had agreed to settle for 7%, with 4% going to the Hamas-run government and 4% to the political movement. It did not specify the source or quantity of the aid. Israel did not release the entire document. The documents also detailed Hamas' efforts to keep traders from hoarding goods and charging inflated prices for them. One of them appeared to acknowledge that some such traders had links to Hamas. The Associated Press could not confirm the documents' authenticity. Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed over 55,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many of those killed were civilians or combatants. The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostage. They are still holding 53 captives, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Magdy and Chehayeb write for the Associated Press. Chehayeb reported from Beirut. AP writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Anti-Israel ringleader Mahmoud Khalil posts $1 bond after federal judge rules Trump admin can't detain him
Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University anti-Israel ringleader, has posted bond after the Trump administration was temporarily blocked from deporting him amid their continued effort to hold him on "foreign policy" grounds. Khalil posted his $1 bond on Thursday afternoon. He has not been released. The move came after U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz sided with Khalil on Wednesday, writing: "The government cannot claim an interest in enforcing what appears to be an unconstitutional law." The ruling was a significant legal setback for the administration's efforts to deport Khalil, who has been held at a detention facility in Louisiana following his involvement in anti-Israel demonstrations at Columbia University. The court's decision will remain on hold until Friday morning, giving the government time to appeal. Khalil, a green card holder, was arrested after leading student protests on the Ivy League campus. He has argued that his free speech rights were being "eroded" by the Trump administration. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attorneys have argued that Khalil's free speech claims were a "red herring," saying that the 30-year-old lied on his visa applications. Khalil, they said, willfully failed to disclose his employment with the Syrian office in the British Embassy in Beirut when he applied for permanent U.S. residency. The agency also accused Khalil of failing to disclose his work with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and membership in Columbia University Apartheid Divest. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cited a provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to justify Khalil's removal from the U.S. The provision allows the Secretary of State to deport noncitizens if the secretary determines their presence in the U.S. "would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences." Rubio accused Khalil of participating in "antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which foster a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States." "Condoning antisemitic conduct and disruptive protests in the United States would severely undermine that significant foreign policy objective," Rubio wrote. Khalil has Algerian citizenship through his mother, but was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria.
