Thom Yorke Discusses ‘Heavy Toll’ Encounter With Heckler Regarding Israel-Hamas Conflict Impacting Him, Criticizes ‘Netanyahu and His Team of Extremists’

Thom Yorke has opened up for the first time regarding an incident with an audience member during one of his shows in Australia last year that left the Radiohead frontman feeling emotionally shaken. In a detailed Instagram post on Friday morning (May 30), Yorke shared his thoughts about “some guy yelling at me from the shadows last year” as he was about to perform his last song at his solo concert in Melbourne.

After an audience member screamed remarks about “Israeli genocide in Gaza” during the performance at the Sidney Meyer Music Bowl in October, Yorke halted the show and confronted the individual to come on stage and express it directly to him, before leaving the stage in apparent disgust. In his Instagram statement, Yorke indicated that it wasn’t the right moment to “address the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza.”

However, afterwards, Yorke remarked that he “was left in disbelief that my supposed silence was perceived as complicity,” noting that he “found it challenging to formulate an appropriate response to this and continue with the rest of the tour’s performances. That silence, my effort to respect all those who are suffering and those who have passed away, and to avoid trivializing it with a few phrases, has permitted other opportunistic entities to exploit intimidation and defamation to fill in the gaps, and I regret granting them this opportunity.”

Although Yorke did not specify the comments he was alluding to, he mentioned that failing to officially respond to the hostility has “taken a significant toll on my mental well-being.”

The rest of the eight-page post serves as a sharp critique of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Yorke addressed during Radiohead’s previous performance in Israel, in July 2017. At that point, he stated, “We’ve performed in Israel for over two decades under various governments, some more progressive than others. As we have in the U.S. We do not support [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu any more than Trump, yet we still perform in America.”

The musician indicated on Instagram that he hoped that anyone who has ever engaged with his or his band’s music, read the lyrics, or appreciated their visual art would fully grasp that he could not “ever endorse any kind of extremism or dehumanization of others. Throughout my life’s work with fellow musicians and artists, I’ve only seen a resistance against such things, striving to create art that transcends what it means to be controlled, coerced, threatened, to suffer, to be intimidated .. and instead to promote critical thinking beyond borders.”

If his message was unclear, Yorke emphasized his views on Israel’s longest-serving prime minister even further in the statement. “I believe Netanyahu and his group of extremists are completely out of control and must be stopped,” he wrote. “Furthermore, the international community should exert as much pressure as possible on them to cease. Their justification of self-defense has long since lost credibility and has been replaced by an obvious desire to take permanent control of Gaza and the West Bank.”

Netanyahu has presided over an almost two-year campaign against Hamas following the extremist group’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals and left 250 hostages taken. In the subsequent conflicts, Israeli forces have ruthlessly bombarded Gaza, causing extensive damage to the area’s infrastructure, with Palestinian health officials reporting more than 53,000 deaths. The ongoing attacks have also triggered a humanitarian catastrophe, and experts warn of a potentially catastrophic famine stemming from the Netanyahu administration’s refusal to allow adequate food assistance into the ravaged region.

Yorke criticized what he termed Netanyahu’s “ultra-nationalist” government, asserting that Harvard-educated Netanyahu and his far-right allies have hidden behind a “fearful & grieving populace and manipulated them to deflect any critique, utilizing that fear and sorrow to advance their ultra-nationalist agenda with dire consequences, as evident now with the horrifying block on aid to Gaza.”

Recently, Israel has started permitting more food aid into Gaza, but the newly implemented distribution system, which is backed by the U.S. and Netanyahu, has resulted in chaotic scenes where tens of thousands of Palestinians near starvation reportedly overwhelmed the locations to seize bags of food and flour. As discussions for another temporary ceasefire are in progress, Israel has persisted with its regular bombings of Gaza, even as it has instructed repeatedly displaced Palestinians to move to a region near the coast as the military seeks to clear large territories where it claims Hamas fighters are present.

“While our lives proceed as usual, these countless innocent human beings are still being eliminated from existence… for what purpose?” Yorke queried, redirecting to the question of why the “unquestioning Free Palestine mantra” has not led to the return of what are thought to be the 58 remaining hostages. He also probed why Hamas committed the “atrocious” actions of Oct. 7, suggesting that the militant group may be choosing to “exploit the suffering of its own people, in a similarly cynical manner for their own gains.”

Yorke concluded by condemning “social media witch hunts” targeting artists to make statements, efforts he opined do little more than heighten tensions, instill fear, and oversimplify the complexities of the situation. “Such deliberate polarization does not aid our fellow human beings and fosters a constant ‘us versus them’ mentality,” Yorke expressed. “It obliterates hope and sustains a sense of isolation, the very tools that extremists use to uphold their standing.”

The singer acknowledged understanding the urge to “take action” when faced with such anguish and loss, but warned against the belief that resharing “brief messages,” particularly ones that condemn others, is the solution. “It’s shouting from the darkness,” he argued. “It’s not looking people in the eye when you communicate. It’s making perilous assumptions. It lacks dialogue and it is devoid of critical thinking.”

Recognizing that he is deficient in providing solutions and aware that his message might not fulfill the expectations of those intending to “target myself or those I collaborate with,” Yorke concluded with the hope that his correspondence will allow him to join the vast multitude of others “praying for an end to this suffering, isolation, and death.”

View Yorke’s complete statement below.

• Source: NEWHD MEDIA