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‘Nowhere Near Netanyahu’: Thom Yorke Says Radiohead Will ‘Absolutely Not’ Perform in Israel
Thom Yorke, frontman of Radiohead. Photo: Alex Cropper/Sipa USA
Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke said the British rock band will not be performing in Israel again, even though the group’s lead guitarist, Jonny Greenwood, has family roots in the Jewish state.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Yorke, 57, was asked if Radiohead would return to Israel for a concert after the band’s controversial gig in Tel Aviv in 2017.
“Absolutely not,” the vocalist replied, before taking a shot at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I wouldn’t want to be 5,000 miles anywhere near the Netanyahu regime, but Jonny has roots there. So, I get it.”
The interview took place before the recent ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization halted fighting in Gaza.
“I would also politely disagree with Thom,” Greenwood added during the interview. “I would argue that the government is more likely to use a boycott and say, ‘Everyone hates us — we should do exactly what we want.’ Which is far more dangerous.”
Radiohead performed at Park Hayarkon in July 2017 despite criticism and pressure to cancel the show from supporters of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, including director Ken Loach and musicians Roger Waters, Thurston Moore, and Young Fathers.
During a solo show in Melbourne, Australia, last year, Yorke was heckled by an audience member about his silence on the Israel-Hamas war. The incident resulted in Yorke storming off stage. He later posted a lengthy statement on social media explaining what happened and also his thoughts on the Middle East conflict.
“I think Netanyahu and his crew of extremists are totally out of control and need to be stopped, and that the international community should put all the pressure it can on them to cease,” the musician wrote. He also argued that “the unquestioning Free Palestine refrain that surrounds us all does not answer the simple question of why the hostages still have not all been returned? For what possible reason?”
Greenwood, 53, is married to Israeli artist Sharona Katan. He has collaborated with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa since 2008, and in 2023, they released an album titled “Jarak Qaribak” (“Your Neighbor Is Your Friend”), which features musicians from across the Middle East. Greenwood and Tassa have performed together in Israel and were scheduled to have shows in the UK this summer, but they were canceled following pressure and alleged threats from BDS supporters.
Radiohead announced last month that for the first time in over seven years, the band will play live shows across Europe in November and early December. During the band’s break, Yorke and Greenwood worked together on three albums for their side band, The Smile. Yorke told The Sunday Times he is concerned about the new tour being targeted by anti-Israel agitators.
“But they don’t care about us,” he added. “It’s about getting something on Instagram of something dramatic happening and, no, I don’t think Israel should do Eurovision. But I don’’ think Eurovision should do Eurovision. So, what do I know?”
Immediately after the announcement about Radiohead’s tour, supporters of the BDS movement called for a boycott of the concerts. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) complained about the band’s alleged “complicit silence” about the Israel-Hamas war and support for Israeli performers, like Tassa, during the “genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.” PACBI urged Radiohead fans to boycott the band’s concerts until it “convincingly distances itself” from Greenwood because of his performances in Israel and collaboration with Israeli musicians.
PACBI also noted that Radiohead has “yet to apologize” for the band’s 2017 performance in Israel and criticized Tassa for entertaining “genocidal Israeli forces in between these massacres of Palestinians in Gaza, willingly acting as a cultural ambassador for apartheid Israel.” Tassa played a show for the Israel Defense Forces in November 2023.
“This wakes me up at night,” Yorke told The Sunday Times about the boycott efforts. “They’re telling me what it is that I’ve done with my life, and what I should do next, and that what I think is meaningless. People want to take what I’ve done that means so much to millions of people and wipe me out. But this is not theirs to take from me — and I don’t consider I’m a bad person.”
“A few times recently I’ve had ‘Free Palestine!’ shouted at me on the street. I talked to a guy. His shtick was, ‘You have a platform, a duty and must distance yourself from Jonny’ … It’s a purity test, low-level Arthur Miller witch-hunt,” he added about being targeted by pro-Palestinian activists and pressured to distance himself from Greenwood. “I utterly respect the dismay but it’s very odd to be on the receiving end.”
Greenwood defended himself against the criticism over his close connection to Israel and work with Israeli musicians.
“When what I do with the musicians is described as sinister or devious? Well, I’ve done this for 20 years,” he explained to The Sunday Times. “Look, I have been to anti-government protests in Israel … I spend a lot of time there with family and cannot just say, ‘I’m not making music with you f–kers because of the government.’ It makes no sense to me. I have no loyalty — or respect, obviously — to their government, but I have both for the artists born there.”
“The only thing that I’m ashamed of is that I’ve dragged Thom and the others into this mess — but I’m not ashamed of working with Arab and Jewish musicians,” he told the publication. “I can’t apologize for that.”
Yorke previously responded to backlash about Radiohead’s 2017 concert in Tel Aviv. “Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government. We don’t endorse Netanyahu any more than [US President Donald] Trump,” he said.
Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien, 57, has posted on social media in the past in support of the “Free Palestine” cause. He also wrote in a social media post last year: “Like so many of you I have found the events of Oct. 7 and what has followed too awful for words. Anything that I have tried to write feels so utterly inadequate. Ceasefire now. Return the hostages.” When asked by The Sunday Times about the controversy surrounding Radiohead’s 2017 gig in Israel, he said, “We should have played Ramallah in the West Bank as well.”
Radiohead drummer Philip Selway, 58, told the publication that it is “impossible” for the band to meet the demands of the BDS movement. “They want us to distance ourselves from Jonny, but that would mean the end of the band and Jonny is coming from a very principled place,” he said. “But it’s odd to be ostracized by artists we generally felt quite aligned to.”
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High-Stakes US Special Forces Mission Rescues Airman From Iran After F-15 Crash
FILE PHOTO: A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft takes off for a mission supporting Operation Epic Fury during the Iran war at an undisclosed location, March 9, 2026. U.S. Air Force/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
US forces staged the audacious rescue of an airman behind enemy lines after Iran downed his fighter jet, officials said on Sunday, resolving a crisis for President Donald Trump as he weighs escalating the war, now in its sixth week.
The airman rescued by special operations forces, who Trump said was a colonel, was the weapons-systems officer on the downed F-15, a US official told Reuters.
“Over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in US History,” Trump said in a statement, adding that the airman was injured but “he will be just fine.”
The officer was the second of two crew members on the warplane that Iran said on Friday had been brought down by its air defenses. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said several aircraft were destroyed during the US rescue mission, Tasnim news agency reported.
Reuters reported on Friday that the first crew member had been retrieved, triggering a high-profile search by both Iran and the United States for the remaining airman.
Iranian officials had urged citizens to help find him, hoping to gain leverage against Washington in the war Trump and Israel launched on February 28.
Trump has threatened to escalate the conflict in the coming days with attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure.
Had Iran captured the airman, the ensuing hostage crisis could have shifted American public perception of a conflict that opinion polls show was already unpopular.
Trump said the airman was rescued “in the treacherous mountains of Iran” in what he said was the first time in military memory that two US pilots had been rescued, separately, deep in enemy territory.
The official told Reuters that as the weapons-systems officer was moved from near a mountain to a transport aircraft parked within Iran, US forces had to destroy at least one of the aircraft because it had malfunctioned.
U.S. AIRCRAFT HIT
The rescue effort, involving dozens of military aircraft, encountered fierce resistance from Iran.
Reuters reported on Friday that two Black Hawk helicopters involved in the search were hit by Iranian fire but escaped from Iranian airspace.
Separately, a pilot ejected from an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft after it was hit over Kuwait and crashed, the officials said, though the extent of crew injuries was unclear.
Still, Trump was triumphant.
“The fact that we were able to pull off both of these operations, without a SINGLE American killed, or even wounded, just proves once again, that we have achieved overwhelming Air Dominance and Superiority over the Iranian skies,” he said in his statement.
US air crews are trained in what to do if they go down behind enemy lines, measures known as Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape, but few are fluent in Persian and face a challenge in staying undetected while seeking rescue.
The conflict has killed 13 US military service members, with more than 300 wounded, US Central Command says. No US troops have been taken prisoner by Iran.
While Trump has repeatedly sought to portray the Iranian military as being in tatters, they have repeatedly been able to hit US aircraft.
Reuters reported on US intelligence showing that Iran retains large amounts of missile and drone capability. Until just over a week ago, the US could only determine with certainty that it had destroyed about one-third of Iran’s missile arsenal.
The status of about another third was less clear, but bombings probably damaged, destroyed or buried those missiles in underground tunnels and bunkers, Reuters sources said.
The US and Israeli war on Iran has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands and hitting the global economy with soaring energy prices that are fueling fears of inflation.
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On Easter, Pope Leo Urges World Leaders to End Wars, Renounce Conquest
Pope Leo XIV waves from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after delivering his “Urbi et Orbi” (To the city and the world) message, on Easter Sunday at the Vatican, April 5, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Remo Casilli
Pope Leo urged global leaders in his Easter message on Sunday to end the conflicts raging across the world and abandon any schemes for power, conquest or domination.
The pope, who has emerged as an outspoken critic of the Iran war, lamented in a special message to the thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square that people “are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent.”
“Let those who have weapons lay them down!” the first US pope exhorted. “Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace!”
Leo did not mention any specific conflicts in the message, known as the “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing. It was unusually brief and direct.
The pope said that the story of Easter, when the Bible says Jesus rose from the dead three days after not resisting his execution by crucifixion, shows that Christ was “entirely nonviolent.”
“On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination, and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars,” Leo urged.
Leo, who is known for choosing his words carefully, has been forcefully decrying the world’s violent conflicts in recent weeks and ramping up his criticism of the Iran war.
In a sermon for the Easter vigil on Saturday night, he urged people not to feel numbed by the scope of the conflicts raging across the world but to work for peace.
The pope made a rare direct appeal to US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, urging him to find an “off-ramp” to end the Iran war.
In his address from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday to the Square below, decorated with thousands of brightly colored flowers for the holiday, Leo offered brief Easter greetings in ten languages, including Latin, Arabic and Chinese.
The pope also announced he would return to the Basilica on April 11 to host a prayer vigil for peace.
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Temple Mount Set for Limited Reopening to Jews and Muslims
Israeli National Security Minister and head of Jewish Power party Itamar Ben-Gvir gives a statement to members of the press, ahead of a possible ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Jan. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Oren Ben Hakoon
i24 News – Israeli authorities are preparing to partially reopen the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to both Jewish and Muslim worshipers for the first time since the start of the war with Iran, under a tightly controlled and highly restricted security arrangement, i24NEWS has learned.
According to details obtained by i24NEWS, the Israeli police, backed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, are also expected to permit limited access for Jewish worshipers to the Western Wall as part of the same phased plan.
Under the framework, access to the Temple Mount and surrounding holy sites would be restricted to small groups of up to 150 people at a time. In the event of a missile alert, all visitors would be immediately evacuated in accordance with emergency protocols.
The decision follows a recent Supreme Court ruling allowing demonstrations in a limited format. Police argue that a consistent standard must apply across both civic gatherings and religious sites, with Ben-Gvir insisting that “there cannot be one rule for demonstrations and another for the Temple Mount.”
However, the reopening contradicts recommendations from the Home Front Command, which has advised keeping sensitive sites closed due to the ongoing risk of missile attacks.
Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin has proposed transferring authority over such security-related decisions exclusively to defense officials, an initiative that could reshape the balance between the judiciary and security establishment regarding restrictions on public access.