Massive Attack have threatened legal action against Zionist Israeli influencer and author Hen Mazzig after he accused the band of “incitement”.

According to NME, Mazzig reportedly shared a clip from Massive Attack’s recent live show via Twitter on Sunday (June 8), which screened footage of former Hamas Political Bureau chairman Yahya Sinwar, who was killed last year.

Alongside the post, Mazzig reportedly wrote: “Why is the self proclaimed ‘pro peace’ band Massive Attack screening footage of Yahya Sinwar during their concert? Sinwar masterminded the slaughter of innocents at a music festival, yet they’re celebrating him at a similar event.”

“If you’re booking the UK’s largest arena, you should care a lot more about the message you’re spreading,” he claimed. “Encouraging 23,000+ people to sympathize with Hamas is more than irresponsible — it’s incitement.”

The Bristol band, who have remained vocal on their support of Palestine, pledged money to humanitarian aid in Gaza, and have similarly backed the continued activism of Irish rap group Kneecap, said they considered the post “defamatory”.

“No email contact is presented for the author of this post, which we consider defamatory, and has been passed to the band’s lawyers,” Massive Attack responded. “Hen Mazzig must delete the original post & issue an apology or further action will follow.”

In a new statement posted to address Mazzig’s claims, Massive Attack said they “categorically reject any suggestion that footage or reportage used as part of an artistic digital collage in our live show seeks to glorify or celebrate any featured subject”.

“To isolate a single section of reportage from the artistic context within which it sits – a digital array that spans a wide variety of issues and themes (and explores how they are reported & presented via mainstream & social media) including war, insurgency, climate emergency, corporate tax avoidance, and the mineral exploitation of global south nations, and includes a multiplicity of highly controversial current and historical political figures – is tantamount to a wilful device to create conditions for misinterpretation, or distortion.”