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According to Thom Yorke, Radiohead will “absolutely” not return to Israel for concerts. He doesn’t even want to go “5,000 kilometers near the Netanyahu regime.”
In 2017, the band performed in Tel Aviv, which led to headwinds from critics of Israel. The “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” movement (BDS for short) had asked the group to cancel the concert. After Yorke clashed with a pro-Palestinian fan at a solo concert in Melbourne last year, he released a statement in May 2025 criticizing both the Israeli government and Hamas.
No concerts because of Netanyahu regime
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Yorke responded to a question about whether Radiohead would perform in Israel again by saying: “Absolutely not. I don’t want to be 5,000 miles from the Netanyahu regime, but Jonny [Greenwood] has roots there. That’s why I understand.” However, he did not become more specific about his views on the regime in this conversation.
In the interview, Thom Yorke was also asked about BDS supporters’ desire to boycott the Radiohead concert, to which he replied: “That keeps me awake at night.” He continued: “They tell me what I’ve done with my life, what I should do next and that what I think is meaningless.” And: “People want to take away what I created and what means so much to millions of people and erase me. But that’s not their right – and I don’t consider myself a bad person.”
As “NME” reported, representatives of the BDS movement justified the call for a boycott of the upcoming concerts with what they saw as the band’s “complicit silence” and their support of Israeli musicians during the “genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza”.
Criticism of Netanyahu and Hamas
With his statement in May 2025, Yorke made clear his stance on the Gaza war. To counter accusations that he was remaining silent on the issue and thereby indirectly supporting the Israeli government’s actions, the Radiohead singer said at the time: “I think that Netanyahu and his extremist clique are completely out of control and need to be stopped, and that the international community should do everything in their power to get them to stop.”
In his opinion, the “excuse of self-defense” is no longer credible and has been replaced by the “obvious desire” to “take permanent control of Gaza and the West Bank,” said Thom Yorke. He continued: “I believe that this ultranationalist government is hiding behind a frightened and grieving people and using them to deflect any criticism. It is using this fear and grief to advance its ultranationalist agenda with terrible consequences, as we are currently seeing with the cruel blockade of aid deliveries to Gaza.”
Yorke was equally critical of Hamas’s actions in the statement at the time: “Why did Hamas choose to commit the truly terrible acts of October 7th? The answer seems obvious, and I believe that Hamas is also hiding behind the suffering of its people – in an equally cynical way to achieve its own goals.”
Jonny Greenwood says: Government has no reason to stop working with Israeli artists
Meanwhile, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood commented separately on the topic. He came under personal criticism for working with the Israeli artist Dudu Tassa. Two joint concerts in Great Britain were canceled at the beginning of the year after demonstrators called for a boycott. Greenwood, who is married to an Israeli artist, also performed with Tassa in Tel Aviv.
Greenwood: “The left are looking for traitors, the right are looking for converts, and it’s depressing that they choose us for that.” He is currently working on a record with Israeli and Middle Eastern musicians, reported “NME”. “And it’s crazy that I’m afraid to admit that.”
“I am not ashamed to work with Arab and Jewish musicians”
He continued: “I spend a lot of time there with my family and I can’t just say, ‘I’m not playing music with you assholes because of the government.’ That doesn’t make any sense to me. I have no loyalty – or respect, of course – to their government, but I have both to the artists born there.”
Asked whether he would perform in Israel again, Greenwood said: “I would politely disagree with Thom. I would argue that the government would rather use a boycott and say, ‘Everyone hates us – we should do exactly what we want.’ This is much more dangerous.”
The guitarist clarified, according to NME: “The only thing I’m ashamed of is that I dragged Thom and the others into this mess – but I’m not ashamed of working with Arab and Jewish musicians. I can’t apologize for that.”