Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke 'would not perform in Israel now'

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has said he would not perform in Israel now, adding: "I wouldn’t want to be 5,000 miles anywhere near the Netanyahu regime."

The musician made the comments in an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine before the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, and ahead of the band’s first tour in seven years.

The group was embroiled in controversy in 2017 when they performed a gig at Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv despite calls from activists and campaigners who said the show was an insult to Palestinian people facing oppression in the country – with Yorke reportedly telling the crowd: "A lot was said about this, but in the end we played some music."

Asked about the 2017 gig, he told the magazine: "I was in the hotel when some guy, clearly connected high up, approaches me to thank me.

"It horrified me, truly, that the gig was being hijacked. So I get it — sort of.

"At the time I thought the gig made sense, but as soon as I got there and that guy came up? Get me the f*** out."

Questioned on whether he would play in Israel now, he told the outlet: "Absolutely not. I wouldn’t want to be 5,000 miles anywhere near the [Benjamin] Netanyahu regime but Jonny [Greenwood] has roots there. So I get it."

Yorke was heckled at a solo gig in Melbourne last year about the war in Gaza, with the singer responding: "Come up here and say that… don’t stand there like a coward. You want to p*** on everybody’s night? Okay you do, see you later then," before leaving the stage.

In May, he released a statement on Instagram addressing the incident, saying: "Some guy shouting at me from the dark last year… didn’t really seem like the best moment to discuss the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

"Afterwards I remained in shock that my supposed silence was somehow being taken as complicity."

Guitarist Greenwood is married to Israeli artist Sharona Katan and has collaborated with Israeli-born rock musician Dudu Tassa for more than a decade.

He told The Sunday Times Magazine that he would "politely disagree" with his bandmate.

"I would argue that the government is more likely to use a boycott and say, 'Everyone hates us — we should do exactly what we want’ which is far more dangerous," he said.

"It’s nuts. The only thing that I’m ashamed of is that I’ve dragged Thom and the others into this mess — but I’m not ashamed of working with Arab and Jewish musicians. I can’t apologise for that."

Greenwood was criticised for performing in Tel Aviv last year alongside Tassa, with pro-Palestinian group Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) claiming the Radiohead musician had engaged in "shameful art-washing" by taking part in the event amid the Hamas-Israel war and the bombing of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

He accused campaigners of trying to "silence" Israeli artists and said it "feels unprogressive to me".

Earlier this year, he and Tassa were due to perform in Bristol and London after releasing the record Jarak Qaribak in 2023, but cancelled the shows because of "credible threats".

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (Pacbi), a member of the BDS movement, welcomed the axing of the gigs.

It said the duo’s performances "would have whitewashed" the war in the Gaza Strip and said Greenwood and Tassa’s claims were "unsubstantiated" and were an attempt to divert attention from their links to Israel’s cultural community.

Greenwood and Tassa said their touring show featured singers from Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait and Iraq, with "each of the members brought together by a shared love of Arabic song, regardless of where exactly they all happened to be born".

This summer, BDS called for a boycott of Radiohead concerts "from Jonny Greenwood’s crossing of our peaceful picket line during Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza".

The band’s drummer, Philip Selway, said in The Sunday Times Magazine interview: "What BDS are asking of us is impossible.

"They want us to distance ourselves from Jonny, but that would mean the end of the band and Jonny is coming from a very principled place. But it’s odd to be ostracised by artists we generally felt quite aligned to."

Guitarist Ed O’Brien, who has shown support for the Free Palestine movement, said of the band’s 2017 performance in Tel Aviv: "We should have played Ramallah in the West Bank as well."

The band will play 20 shows in five European cities on their upcoming 2026 tour.

Source: Press Association