Radiohead Will Perform In Tel Aviv Wednesday Evening Despite Pro-BDS Protests

By Becky Scott July 19, 2017

Radiohead will perform in Tel Aviv Wednesday evening, following months of pro-BDS artists and supporters imploring the band to reconsider the performance.

Thom Yorke, the band’s lead singer, flashed the middle finger at a group of Palestinian solidarity activists at the TRNSMT festival this week. The incident was caught on camera and posted to Twitter.

#Radiohead fans in Glasgow at #TRSNMTfest called on the band to respect the cultural boycott of Israel in solidarity with Palestinians #BDS pic.twitter.com/Ts7OZmlOp2

— Hilary Aked (@hilary_aked) July 8, 2017

Over 50 artists signed a petition in April urging Yorke to cancel his concert. Yorke responded in an exclusive Rolling Stone interview, saying that ” … if you want me to be honest, yeah, it’s really upsetting that artists I respect think we are not capable of making a moral decision ourselves after all these years. They talk down to us and I just find it mind-boggling that they think they have the right to do that. It’s extraordinary.”

Yorke retweeted Nasreen Qadri’s Newsweek article Tuesday evening titled “I’m an Arab. Here’s why I’ll be performing with Radiohead in Israel.” Qadri is a Muslim Arab performer who will be playing alongside Yorke Wednesday evening.

Other prominent artists, such as Britney Spears and the band Guns N’ Roses, have also recently performed in Israel.

Becky Scott is the editor of The Schmooze. Follow her on Twitter, @arr_scott

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO