Radiohead Will Perform In Tel Aviv Wednesday Evening Despite Pro-BDS Protests
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
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.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
