Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has admitted that he would “absolutely not” perform in Israel now, after the band were embroiled in controversy for playing a gig in Tel Aviv in 2017.
In a new interview with The Sunday Times, the band was asked to reflect on their last performance in Israel, which took place at Yarkon Park. At the time, they faced huge backlash from activists who deemed the show insulting for Palestinians suffering oppression on the same soil.
Yorke then shared a story from the controversial performance, revealing, “I was in the hotel when some guy, clearly connected high up, approached me to thank me. It horrified me, truly, that the gig was being hijacked. So I get it — sort of.”
He continued, “At the time, I thought the gig made sense, but as soon as I got there and that guy came up? Get me the fuck out.”
As a result, Yorke would now “absolutely not” play in Israel. He added, “I wouldn’t want to be 5,000 miles anywhere near the Netanyahu regime, but Jonny (Greenwood) has roots there. So I get it.”
Yorke previously released a statement about the “humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”, citing an instance where he was heckled on stage, which resulted in the vocalist abandoning the show. In the original statement, he confessed that fans considering his recent silence on the matter “as complicity” has had a “heavy toll on [his] mental health”.
In the new interview, he added to this sentiment, sharing that the so-called “witch hunts” against musicians in an age where political statements are expected continue to “wake me up at night”.
He explained, “They’re telling me what it is that I’ve done with my life, and what I should do next, and that what I think is meaningless. People want to take what I’ve done that means so much to millions of people and wipe me out. But this is not theirs to take from me – and I don’t consider I’m a bad person.”
Greenwood has also faced backlash after playing in Tel Aviv in 2024 and making records with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa; two of their collaborative shows were cancelled in the UK due to protesters calling for a boycott. Yorke turned his attention to this in the interview.
Yorke said, “A few times recently I’ve had ‘Free Palestine!’ shouted at me on the street. I talked to a guy. His shtick was, ‘You have a platform, a duty and must distance yourself from Jonny.’ But I said, ‘You 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 – while they just carry on with impunity, murdering people.’”
He concluded, “It’s an expression of impotency. It’s a purity test, low-level Arthur Miller witch-hunt. I utterly respect the dismay but it’s very odd to be on the receiving end.”
In September, Radiohead confirmed that they will embark on a 20-date tour of the United Kingdom and Europe in 2025. The set of upcoming shows marks their first series of concerts since 2018. They will play a series of shows in Madrid, Bologna, London, Copenhagen, and Berlin.
