All five members of Radiohead spoke with Jonathan Dean for a new wide-ranging interview in The Sunday Times. At one point, Thom Yorke reflected on the band’s decision to perform in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2017, and the backlash that ensued. “I was in the hotel,” Yorke recalled, “when some guy, clearly connected high up, approaches me to thank me. It horrified me, truly, that the gig was being hijacked. So I get it—sort of. At the time I thought the gig made sense, but as soon as I got there and that guy came up? Get me the f*** out.”
Dean followed up by asking Yorke if he would perform again in Israel, noting that the interview took place before the latest cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas. “Absolutely not,” Yorke said. “I wouldn’t want to be 5,000 miles anywhere near the Netanyahu regime but Jonny has roots there. So I get it.” (Yorke is a longtime critic of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his government.)
Jonny Greenwood, who is married to the Israeli artist Sharona Katan and has collaborated with the Israeli musician Dudu Tassa, disagreed with his bandmate. “I would also politely disagree with Thom,” Greenwood said. “I would argue that the government is more likely to use a boycott and say, ‘Everyone hates us—we should do exactly what we want.’ Which is far more dangerous.”
Elsewhere, Yorke spoke about the pressure that he’s felt from pro-Palestinian supporters—including the the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement—who suggest that Radiohead are complicit in Israel’s assault against the Gazan people. “This wakes me up at night,” he said. “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.”
Yorke, who was heckled onstage last year by a pro-Palestinian protestor, added, “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.’ 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.”
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