RSS
Radiohead Guitarist Says He Won’t Stop Collaborating, Touring With Israeli Musicians Despite BDS Backlash
Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood performs at Manchester Emirates Stadium in the United Kingdom on July 4, 2017.
Photo: Sakura/WENN.com
Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood said on Tuesday that he rejects “unprogressive” efforts by supporters of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel to “silence” Israeli artists after the British musician was criticized and threatened for collaborating with Israeli Mizrahi singer Dudu Tassa.
Greenwood is performing at festivals across Europe this summer with Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis, an Israeli band that opened Coachella in 2017 and was Radiohead’s opening act for their spring tour in the US that same year. Greenwood released an album with Tassa last year titled “Jarak Qaribak,” featuring musicians from across the Middle East. Tassa is of Iraqi, Jewish, and Yemeni descent and has been collaborating musically with Greenwood since 2008. The duo performed in Israel together in late May and their concert was condemned by BDS supporters, who also said that Greenwood and Radiohead will face “grassroots measures” if they do not stop supporting Israel.
In a released statement on Tuesday, Greenwood said BDS supporters will not deter him from continuing to collaborate with Tassa and other Middle Eastern musicians.
“I think an artistic project that combines Arab and Jewish musicians is worthwhile,” explained the British musician. “And one that reminds everyone that the Jewish cultural roots in countries like Iraq and Yemen go back for thousands of years, is also important. It’s just musicians from all over the Middle East having mutual respect for each other, working together across borders, and sharing our love for the long catalogue of Arabic songs — whether they were written by Muslim, Jewish, or Christian composers. Others choose to believe this kind of project is unjustifiable, and are urging the silencing of this — or any — artistic effort made by Israeli Jews. But I can’t join that call.”
The award-winning composer, who is married to Israeli visual artist Sharona Katan, added that “the silencing of Israeli film makers / musicians / dancers when their work tours abroad — especially when it’s at the urging of their fellow Western film makers/musicians/artists — feels unprogressive to me. Not least because it’s these people that are invariably the most progressive members of any society.”
Greenwood also reminded people that Tassa is the grandson of Jewish Kuwaiti musician Daoud Al-Kuwaiti, one half of the legendary Al Kuwaity Brothers, whose songs became famous in the Arabic world between the 1930s and 1950s and remain popular today. “The Al-Kuwaiti Brothers were among the greatest composers and musicians in Baghdad during the first half of the 20th century, considered innovators and creators of modern Iraqi music, who also helped to establish Baghdad’s original broadcasting authority,” according to the official website of Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis.
Greenwood said he is “grateful” to be able to work with a variety of musicians from different backgrounds, like Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis, “all of whom strike me as much braver — and taking far more of a principled risk — than those who are trying to shut us down, or who are now attempting to ascribe a sinister ulterior motivation to the band’s existence.”
“We are musicians honoring a shared culture, and I’ve been involved in this for nearly 20 years now,” he added. “No art is as ‘important’ as stopping all the death and suffering around us. How can it be? But doing nothing seems a worse option. 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. So: that’s why I’m making music with this band. You’re welcome to disagree with, or ignore, what we do — but I hope you now understand what the true motivation is, and can react to the music without suspicion or hate.”
Greenwood has no plans to go on tour with Radiohead anytime soon. The band’s lead singer, Thom Yorke, announced on Monday that he will embark on a rare solo tour this fall, starting Oct. 23 in New Zealand and ending Nov. 26 in Japan.
The post Radiohead Guitarist Says He Won’t Stop Collaborating, Touring With Israeli Musicians Despite BDS Backlash first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
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.”
RSS
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.
RSS
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.