{"id":100955,"date":"2025-10-25T21:05:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T21:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/100955\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T21:05:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T21:05:07","slug":"thom-yorke-says-witch-hunt-over-israel-stance-wakes-me-up-at-night-as-radiohead-members-share-views","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/100955\/","title":{"rendered":"Thom Yorke says “witch-hunt” over Israel stance “wakes me up at night” as Radiohead members\u00a0share\u00a0views"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thom Yorke<\/a> has said the \u201cwitch-hunt\u201d over Radiohead<\/a>\u2019s stance on Israel and Palestine \u201cwakes him up at night\u201d, while his bandmates have also shared their views on the issue.<\/p>\n

All five members of the band have given an interview to The Times<\/a> in which they have laid out their own perspectives on the controversies faced by Radiohead in recent years.<\/p>\n

In 2017, they encountered a backlash when they played a show in Tel Aviv, Israel<\/a> despite protests urging them to cancel the gig from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, as well as criticism from Roger Waters, Thurston Moore, Young Fathers and others<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last year, Yorke clashed with a protester during a solo show in Melbourne<\/a>, arguing with an individual from the crowd and storming off stage, before later issuing a lengthy statement explaining his decision<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jonny Greenwood<\/a>, meanwhile, has come in for criticism for making records with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa<\/a>, and saw two UK gigs with Tassa cancelled earlier this year<\/a> after protesters called for a boycott. Greenwood, who is married to an Israeli artist, also played with Tassa in Tel Aviv last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When Radiohead announced their first shows<\/a> in over seven years in September, the BDS argued that the band\u2019s \u201ccomplicit silence\u201d and support of Israeli performers during the \u201cgenocide against Palestinians in Gaza\u201d<\/a> should lead to a boycott of the shows.<\/p>\n

Now, the members of the band have shared their thoughts on the matter, with Yorke saying: \u201cThis wakes me up at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re telling me what it is that I\u2019ve done with my life, and what I should do next, and that what I think is meaningless,\u201d he explained. \u201cPeople want to take what I\u2019ve done that means so much to millions of people and wipe me out. But this is not theirs to take from me \u2013 and I don\u2019t consider I\u2019m a bad person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA few times recently I\u2019ve had \u2018Free Palestine!\u2019 shouted at me on the street. I talked to a guy. His shtick was, \u2018You have a platform, a duty and must distance yourself from Jonny.\u2019 But I said, \u2018You and me, standing on the street in London, shouting at each other? Well, the true criminals, who should be in front of the ICC [International Criminal Court], are laughing at us squabbling among ourselves in the public realm and on social media \u2013 while they just carry on with impunity, murdering people.\u2019 It\u2019s an expression of impotency. It\u2019s a purity test, low-level Arthur Miller witch-hunt. I utterly respect the dismay but it\u2019s very odd to be on the receiving end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenwood described the backlash as \u201cthe embodiment of the left\u201d, adding: \u201cThe left look for traitors, the right for converts and it\u2019s depressing that we are the closest they can get.\u201d Revealing that he is currently working on a record with Israeli and Middle Eastern musicians, he added: \u201cAnd it\u2019s nuts I feel frightened to admit that. Yet that feels progressive to me \u2013 booing at a concert does not strike me as brave or progressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, I have been to anti-government protests in Israel and you cannot move for all the \u2018Fuck Ben-Gvir\u2019 stickers,\u201d Greenwood continued, referring to controversial Israeli minister of national security Itamar Ben-Gvir. \u201cI spend a lot of time there with family and cannot just say, \u2018I\u2019m not making music with you fuckers because of the government.\u2019 It makes no sense to me. I have no loyalty \u2013 or respect, obviously \u2013 to their government, but I have both for the artists born there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yorke was asked whether he would play in Israel with Radiohead again. \u201cAbsolutely not,\u201d he replied. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to be 5,000 miles anywhere near the Netanyahu regime but Jonny has roots there. So I get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would also politely disagree with Thom,\u201d Greenwood responded. \u201cI would argue that the government is more likely to use a boycott and say, \u2018Everyone hates us \u2013\u00a0we should do exactly what we want.\u2019 Which is far more dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nuts,\u201d he added. \u201cThe only thing that I\u2019m ashamed of is that I\u2019ve dragged Thom and the others into this mess \u2013 but I\u2019m not ashamed of working with Arab and Jewish musicians. I can\u2019t apologise for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guitarist Ed O\u2019Brien<\/a>, meanwhile, had his say on the issue, claiming: \u201cWe should have played Ramallah in the West Bank as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not going to judge anybody,\u201d he said in reference to his bandmates\u2019 stances. \u201cBut the brutal truth is that, while we were once all tight, we haven\u2019t really spoken to one another much \u2013 and that\u2019s OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drummer Philip Selway<\/a> added: \u201cWhat 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\u2019s odd to be ostracised by artists we generally felt quite aligned to.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the past, Yorke has spoken out on the reaction to the band\u2019s Tel Aviv show<\/a> by stating: Playing a country isn\u2019t the same as endorsing its government. We don\u2019t endorse Netanyahu any more than Trump.<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s return to the stage will consist of multiple dates each in Madrid, Bologna, London\u2019s O2, Copenhagen and Berlin between November 4 and December 12. Tickets sold out quickly in September<\/a>, with the band sharing earlier this month that they were sending out \u201ca few more unlock codes\u201d for tickets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s most recent live performance took place on August 1, 2018 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. It marked the end of their \u2018A Moon Shaped Pool\u2019 tour in support of their 2017\u00a0album of the same name<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 which they have yet to follow up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thom Yorke has said the \u201cwitch-hunt\u201d over Radiohead\u2019s stance on Israel and Palestine \u201cwakes him up at night\u201d,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[4911,156,591,157,111,139,69,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-100955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-alternative","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-indie","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}