Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke says he would "absolutely not" play in Israel today, a reversal from the band's controversial 2017 Tel Aviv concert that sparked backlash from pro-Palestinian activists and artists, the Guardian reports. Speaking to the Sunday Times magazine, Yorke cited his opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, saying he wouldn't want to be "5,000 miles anywhere near the Netanyahu regime."
Radiohead's last Tel Aviv show led to a high-profile dispute with supporters of the cultural boycott of Israel, including filmmaker Ken Loach. At the time, Yorke defended the decision, insisting that playing in a country does not equal government endorsement. He also criticized the pro-Palestinian boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement as "patronizing in the extreme."
However, Yorke now hints at perhaps a change of heart, recalling feeling "horrified" when a high-level Israeli official thanked the band after their 2017 show. The band's relationship with Israel continues to draw scrutiny as they prepare for their first tour in seven years; even before dates were announced, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel called for a boycott due to guitarist Jonny Greenwood's 2024 performance in Tel Aviv. Greenwood, who is married to an Israeli artist and collaborates with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa, has himself faced criticism from boycott advocates, though he recently joined Israeli protests demanding Netanyahu's resignation.
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At one of Yorke's solo shows last year in Melbourne, a heckler accused him of complicity in Gaza's suffering, after which Yorke called Netanyahu's administration "extremists" who "need to be stopped." But Yorke says now that the "low-level Arthur Miller witch-hunt" around the band's stance on Israel and Palestinians "wakes me up at night," Billboard reports. The band's sold-out tour, across five European cities, starts Nov. 4.
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