UK: Radiohead singer: pressure by BDS supporters to cancel Israel concert Is ‘Extremely upsetting, disrespectful and offensive’

Via The Algemeiner:

Thom Yorke

The amount of harassment Radiohead has received from BDS supporters about its upcoming concert in Israel is “extremely upsetting,” the rock band’s lead singer said on Friday. 

“It’s deeply distressing that they choose to, rather than engage with us personally, throw s**t at us in public,” Thom Yorke told Rolling Stone magazine. “It’s deeply disrespectful to assume that we’re either being misinformed or that we’re so retarded we can’t make these decisions ourselves. I thought it was patronizing in the extreme. It’s offensive and I just can’t understand why going to play a rock show or going to lecture at a university [is a problem to them].” 

Radiohead is scheduled to play in Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park on July 19 as it wraps up its 2017 A Moon Shaped Pool tour. When the band first announced the concert in April, BDS supporters — including Desmond Tutu and Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters — signed an open letter urging the rockers to cancel their show to “help pressure Israel to end its violation of basic rights and international law [against Palestinians].” 

The band refused to call off its concert and has continued to face pressure from BDS supporters. (...)

 “It’s really upsetting that artists I respect think we are not capable of making a moral decision ourselves after all these years,” Yorke added. “They talk down to us and I just find it mind-boggling that they think they have the right to do that. It’s extraordinary.” 

The British rocker added that Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood was married to an Arab Jew and had both Palestinian and Jewish friends, so to think he was ignorant of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was appalling.

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