{"id":242456,"date":"2025-10-27T01:22:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T01:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/242456\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T01:22:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T01:22:07","slug":"radioheads-thom-yorke-says-he-would-absolutely-not-play-in-israel-now-radiohead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/242456\/","title":{"rendered":"Radiohead\u2019s Thom Yorke says he would \u2018absolutely not\u2019 play in Israel now | Radiohead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke<\/a> has said he would not now perform in Israel, eight years after the band defied pro-Palestinian activists to play a show in Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely not. I wouldn\u2019t want to be 5,000 miles anywhere near the Netanyahu regime,\u201d he told the Sunday Times magazine,<\/a> referring to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government.<\/p>\n

The interview with members of the British band \u2013 whose UK No 1 albums include OK Computer and Kid A \u2013 took place before this month\u2019s ceasefire agreement between Israel<\/a> and Hamas.<\/p>\n

The band kick off their first tour in seven years next month, playing 20 shows in five European cities. Before the dates were officially confirmed, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel had already shared a statement calling for a boycott of the tour, as a result of band member Jonny Greenwood\u2019s performance in Tel Aviv in 2024.<\/p>\n

Radiohead\u2019s 2016-2018 A Moon Shaped Pool world tour ignited a backlash when the group performed in Tel Aviv, despite boycott calls and public criticism from cultural figures including British director Ken Loach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a statement on X<\/a> at that time, responding directly to Loach, Yorke said: \u201cPlaying in a country isn\u2019t the same as endorsing the government. We\u2019ve played in Israel for over 20 years through a succession of governments, some more liberal than others. As we have in America. We don\u2019t endorse Netanyahu any more than Trump, but we still play in America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yorke has previously criticised the pro-Palestine boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement<\/a>, calling it \u201cpatronising in the extreme\u201d and \u201coffensive\u201d.<\/p>\n

Yorke hinted at some regret over the decision to play in Tel Aviv in 2017 in the new interview, saying he was \u201chorrified\u201d when a \u201cclearly connected high up\u201d Israeli came to their hotel to thank them for playing.<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s stance on Israel has dogged its members for years.<\/p>\n

Yorke briefly walked off stage during a solo gig in Australia <\/a>last year after a pro-Palestinian heckler shouted \u201chow many dead children will it take for you to condemn the genocide in Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n

He later released a statement<\/a> saying the incident in Melbourne left him \u201cin shock that my supposed silence was somehow being taken as complicity\u201d, and called Netanyahu and his administration \u201cextremists\u201d who \u201cneed to be stopped\u201d.<\/p>\n

Yorke\u2019s bandmate Greenwood is married to an Israeli artist and has faced sustained criticism from boycott advocates for his longtime collaboration with Israel-born rock musician Dudu Tassa. In 2024, Greenwood joined protests in Israel calling for the removal of Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

The Radiohead<\/a> guitarist told the Sunday Times magazine that he spent a lot of time in Israel with family and was \u201cnot ashamed of working with Arab and Jewish musicians\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has said he would not now perform in Israel, eight years after the band…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":{"0":"post-242456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}