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Radiohead: Attempts to Boycott Israel An 'Extraordinary Waste of Energy'

Radiohead
Radiohead / Getty Images
June 2, 2017

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke spoke out against attempts by supporters of the movement to boycott Israel to convince the band to cancel a scheduled performance in Tel Aviv this coming July, calling the anti-Israel movement "an extraordinary waste of energy."

Yorke lashed out at artists such as ex-Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters who wrote a letter to the band explaining why they should cancel their Israel concert, saying that it is "deeply disrespectful" to think that the band members are "so retarded we can't make these decisions ourselves."

"They talk down to us and I just find it mind-boggling that they think they have the right to do that," Yorke told Rolling Stone. "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."

Yorke called the letter written by Waters "patronizing in the extreme."

Yorke also said that the entire Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which aims to destroy the Jewish state through economic warfare, "creates divisive energy."

"All of this creates divisive energy. You're not bringing people together. You're not encouraging dialogue or a sense of understanding," he said. "It's such an extraordinary waste of energy. Energy that could be used in a more positive way."

The Washington Free Beacon asked Waters in April about his push to get Radiohead to pull out of the Tel Aviv concert and Waters made clear that Radiohead had dismissed his letter.

"I have engaged in a correspondence with Radiohead, and they seem to have decided that they are going to go ahead and do a concert in Tel Aviv," Waters said during a New York Times event.

Waters went on to defend the BDS movement and argue that he has "nothing against Jewish people."

One attendee of the New York Times event Waters was speaking at called him "a full of shit person."

Published under: Anti-Semitism , Israel