Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke 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.
“Absolutely not. I wouldn’t want to be 5,000 miles anywhere near the Netanyahu regime,” he told the Sunday Times magazine, referring to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
The interview with members of the British band – whose UK No 1 albums include OK Computer and Kid A – took place before this month’s ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
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’s performance in Tel Aviv in 2024.
Radiohead’s 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.
In a statement on X at that time, responding directly to Loach, Yorke said: “Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing the government. We’ve played in Israel for over 20 years through a succession of governments, some more liberal than others. As we have in America. We don’t endorse Netanyahu any more than Trump, but we still play in America.”
Yorke has previously criticised the pro-Palestine boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, calling it “patronising in the extreme” and “offensive”.
Yorke hinted at some regret over the decision to play in Tel Aviv in 2017 in the new interview, saying he was “horrified” when a “clearly connected high up” Israeli came to their hotel to thank them for playing.
The band’s stance on Israel has dogged its members for years.
Yorke briefly walked off stage during a solo gig in Australia last year after a pro-Palestinian heckler shouted “how many dead children will it take for you to condemn the genocide in Gaza”.
He later released a statement saying the incident in Melbourne left him “in shock that my supposed silence was somehow being taken as complicity”, and called Netanyahu and his administration “extremists” who “need to be stopped”.
Yorke’s 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.
The Radiohead guitarist told the Sunday Times magazine that he spent a lot of time in Israel with family and was “not ashamed of working with Arab and Jewish musicians”.
– Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.
