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Radiohead Frontman Thom Yorke Confronts Anti-Israel Fan From on Stage During Melbourne Concert
Thom Yorke of The Smile is performing during The Smile Live in Europe 2024 Tour at Cavea of Auditorium Parco della Musica, in Rome, Italy, on June 24, 2024. Photo: Domenico Cippitelli via Reuters Connect
Thom Yorke, lead singer of Radiohead and The Smile, abruptly walked off stage during his solo concert in Melbourne, Australia, on Wednesday night after having a heated exchange with an audience member, who interrupted the show to voice his opposition to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
During a pause between songs at Yorke’s second sold-out show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, an audience member shouted at him as he stood on stage, as seen in a TikTok video taken during the incident. The audience member claimed, without evidence, that 200,000 people have already been killed in the Gaza Strip, half of them children. He yelled at the British rocker, “How can you be silent? How many dead children will it take for you to condemn the genocide in Gaza?” as seen in footage obtained by The Age.
Yorke responded, “Hop up on the f—king stage and say what you wanna say. Don’t stand there like a coward, come here and say it. You wanna piss on everybody’s night? OK, you do. See you later, then.” He then took off his guitar and left the stage.
Other members of the audience then began booing, shouting at the anti-Israel protester and expressing frustration after Yorke walked off stage. They also chanted for Yorke, and a few minutes later he returned to perform the night’s final song, the Radiohead hit “Karma Police,” according to The Age.
@makzym8 Melbourne night 2. Guy then got got by the Karma Police #radiohead #thomyorke #melbourne ♬ original sound – Maxim
Radiohead has performed in Israel several times, most recently in 2017, despite facing intense pressure to boycott the Jewish state as part of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. At the time, Yorke called the harassment from BDS supporters “extremely upsetting,” “deeply disrespectful”, and “offensive.” He also took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to defend the band’s decision to play in Israel that year.
“Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government,” he wrote. “We’ve played in Israel for over 20 years through a succession of governments, some more liberal than others. As we have in America. We don’t endorse [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu any more than [former US President Donald] Trump, but we still play in America. Music, art ,and academia is about crossing borders not building them, about open minds not closed ones, about shared humanity, dialogue, and freedom of expression.”
This summer, Yorke’s bandmate, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, was criticized and threatened by BDS supporters for performing with Israeli artist Dudu Tassa and his band in Tel Aviv. Greenwood, who is married to Israeli visual artist Sharona Katan, responded by saying that efforts to boycott Israeli artists “feels unprogressive.”
“No art is as ‘important’ as stopping all the death and suffering around us. But doing nothing seems a worse option,” he explained. “And silencing Israeli artists for being born Jewish in Israel doesn’t seem like any way to reach an understanding between the two sides of this apparently endless conflict.”
The post Radiohead Frontman Thom Yorke Confronts Anti-Israel Fan From on Stage During Melbourne Concert first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.