Jonny Greenwood, famous for his work as a multi-instrumentalist in Radiohead, performed in Tel Aviv, Israel, at the Barby club on May 26 alongside Israeli musician Dudu Tassa. The pair played music from their collaborative album, ‘Jarak Qaribak’, which was released last year. This comes just after Greenwood reportedly attended protests the day prior, which were calling for hostages held in Gaza to be released and new elections to be held.
The gig featured numerous calls for peace and unity, with Tassa stating: “There are musicians here, not politicians. Music has always worked wonders, may we know better days and may everyone return safely”. Greenwood’s wife, who is Israeli, had a nephew who was serving in the Israeli defense Force and was killed in the ongoing war against Hamas.
Some of the backlash against Greenwood’s concert came from pro-Palestine activists, who declared that he was “artwashing genocide”. Groups such as the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a founding member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, have called for “peaceful, creative pressure on his band Radiohead to convincingly distance itself from this blatant complicity in the crime of crimes, or face grassroots measures”. PACBI’s press release stated that during Greenwood’s concert, Israeli forces were bombing displaced Palestinians who were sheltering in tents in Rafah, Gaza, whilst quoting that “In the last two decades, activists have called for musicians “to refuse to work with Israeli cultural institutions that are complicit in Israel’s apartheid regime”.
This is not the first time that Radiohead has come under fire for performing in Israel. In 2017, the band received petitions from musicians including Roger Waters and Desmond Tutu, calling for them to boycott their Tel Aviv gig. Radiohead Fans for Palestine also wrote an open letter to Thom Yorke, where it was stated that “The Palestinian people have asked you to boycott, and if you’re going to justify your show in Tel Aviv, it is them you should be addressing”. There was further controversy following their Tel Aviv gig when director Ken Loach engaged in a Twitter altercation with Yorke
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