Radiohead and the Smile singer Thom Yorke paused a recent solo concert in Melbourne, Australia, after being heckled by a pro-Palestine member of the audience. Footage from the concert shows a man shouting about the death tolls in Israelâs war in Gaza and asking Yorke, âHow could you be silent?â (The Israeli offensive, in Gaza, has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to Gazaâs Health Ministry.)
Yorke, further footage shows, addressed the man in the audience: âCome up on the fucking stage and say what you want to say. Donât stand there like a coward. Come here and say it.â He continued, âYou want to piss on everybodyâs night? Come on. OK, you do, see you later.â Yorke then left the stage, but he returned to play Radioheadâs âKarma Police.â
Yorke and Radiohead were criticized heavily, in 2017, for performing in Israel. Yorke dismissed the backlash to the Tel Aviv concert, and he wrote, âPlaying in a country isnât the same as endorsing its government. Weâve played in Israel for over 20 years through a succession of governments, some more liberal than others. As we have in America. We donât endorse [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu any more than Trump, but we still play in America.â
Jonny Greenwood, Yorkeâs bandmate in Radiohead and the Smile, has also recently defended his work with the Israeli musician Dudu Tassa after the pro-Palestine Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement said that he was âartwashing genocideâ by performing, with Tassa, in Tel Aviv amid Israelâs ongoing offensive in Gaza.
Greenwoodâwhose wife is the Israeli artist Sharona Katan and who released the album Jarak Qaribak, with Dudu Tassa, last yearâwrote that âno art is as âimportantâ as stopping all the death and suffering around us.â He continued, âBut doing nothing seems a worse option. And silencing Israeli artists for being born Jewish in Israel doesnât seem like any way to reach an understanding between the two sides of this apparently endless conflict.â