Greenwood said he had attended anti-government protests in Israel, adding: “You cannot move for all the ‘F*** [Itimar] Ben-Gvir’ stickers.”
“The only thing that I’m ashamed of is that I’ve dragged Thom [Yorke] and the others into this mess – but I’m not ashamed of working with Arab and Jewish musicians. I can’t apologise for that,” said Greenwood, who is married to Israeli artist Sharona Katan.
He added: “The left look for traitors, the right for converts, and it’s depressing that we are the closest they can get.”
Greenwood has worked with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa, who performed for the Israel Defence Forces in November 2023, saying that after October 7 he wanted to “bring some comfort” to soldiers who had gone “to defend my family.”
Dudu Tassa was due to perform with Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood in June, but the pair's Bristol gig has now been cancelled (Image: Flash90)Flash90
Recent gigs in Bristol and London featuring Greenwood and Tassa were cancelled over Tassa’s ties to Israel.
Meanwhile, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has called for a boycott of Radiohead’s upcoming tour – the band’s first in more than seven years.
In the Sunday Times interview, Greenwood’s bandmates said that while they support him personally, there were disagreements in the group over the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Lead vocalist Thom Yorke said calls from BDS to boycott their shows “wake me up at night.”
“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,” Yorke said.
Philip Selway said BDS’s demands were "impossible” for the band to meet. “They want us to distance ourselves from Jonny, but that would mean the end of the band. Jonny is coming from a very principled place. But it’s odd to be ostracised by artists we generally felt quite aligned to.”
Yorke said a protester once shouted “Free Palestine” at him on the street and told him he had a “duty” to distance himself from Greenwood.
He recalled: “You and me, standing on the street in London, shouting at each other? Well, the true criminals, who should be in front of the ICC [International Criminal Court], are laughing at us squabbling among ourselves in the public realm and on social media – while they just carry on with impunity, murdering people.”
“It’s an expression of impotency. It’s a purity test, low-level Arthur Miller witch-hunt. I utterly respect the dismay but it’s very odd to be on the receiving end,” he added.
Last November, Yorke walked offstage after being heckled by a pro-Palestine protester during a solo concert in Melbourne.
Footage from the show captured a man shouting about the “Israeli genocide in Gaza.” Yorke appeared to respond by inviting the protester onstage and calling him a coward.
Asked about Radiohead’s 2017 concert in Tel Aviv, Yorke said the performance “made sense” at the time but was “hijacked.”
“I was in the hotel, when some guy, clearly connected high up, approaches me to thank me. It horrified me, truly, that the gig was being hijacked. So I get it – sort of. At the time I thought the gig made sense, but as soon as I got there and that guy came up? Get me the f*** out.”
When asked whether he would play in Israel today (the interview took place before the recent ceasefire agreement), Yorke replied: “Absolutely not. I wouldn’t want to be 5,000 miles anywhere near the Netanyahu regime. But Jonny has roots there. So I get it.”
Greenwood said he “would politely disagree with Thom.”
“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.”
Yorke also weighed in on Eurovision, which several countries have threatened to boycott if Israel takes part: “I don’t think Israel should do Eurovision. But I don’t think Eurovision should do Eurovision. So what do I know?”
Guitarist Ed O’Brien said the band’s relationships have become more distant. “The brutal truth is that, while we were once all tight, we haven’t spoken to one another much. And that’s OK.”
On the 2017 Tel Aviv gig, O’Brien added: “We should have played Ramallah in the West Bank as well.”
