Kneecap rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh has said that labelling the group as anti-Semitic means people "water that term down".
The trio - Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, and JJ Ó Dochartaigh - were interviewed by The Big Issue after it was ruled that Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, will not face a terror trial in the UK after being accused of displaying a flag in support of the proscribed terror organisation Hezbollah at a gig.
Ó hAnnaidh told the magazine: "When you start labelling bands and people who speak out against Israel as anti-Semitic, what you do is water that term down.
"We are not anti-Semitic."
Ó hAnnaidh also said it was "impossible" to remember everything that happens during a performance.
"When you're playing a gig, it's impossible to be perfectly conscious all the time. I don't remember all - and that's not just from drink, that's pure adrenaline," he told The Big Issue.
Bandmate Naoise Ó Cairealláin, aka Móglaí Bap, told the British edition of the magazine that the group is "from the north of Ireland".
He said that Kneecap know about "religious conflicts, people using religion as a way to murder, maim, and all this stuff".
"We are against any discrimination in any form," he added.
The alleged offence was said to have taken place at a gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, on 21 November, 2024.
But the case in London was thrown out in September last year, with Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring ruling the proceedings were "instituted unlawfully".
Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) appealed against the decision at the High Court in London at a hearing in January, with rapper Ó hAnnaidh opposing the challenge.
In a judgment last week, two judges at the High Court upheld the decision and dismissed the CPS appeal.
Watch: 'This entire process was never about me...it was always about Palestine' - Ó hAnnaidh
The full interview can be read in Monday's Big Issue.
Kneecap will release their new album, Fenian, on Friday, 24 April.
Source: Press Association
