Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood speaks out against “silencing Israeli artists for being born Jewish in Israel” while defending current project

nme.com:

Radiohead‘s Jonny Greenwood has defended being part of a musical project with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa and spoken out against “silencing Israeli artists for being born Jewish in Israel”.Greenwood performed with Tassa in Tel Aviv on May 26.

The day before, he reportedly participated in protests calling for hostages held in Gaza to be released and new elections to be held.They played material from their collaborative album of Arabic love songs, ‘Jarak Qaribak’, which was released last year.Greenwood’s performance was criticised by pro-Palestine activists who accused him of “artwashing genocide”.The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a founding member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement 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 also pointed out that at the same time that Greenwood’s concert was taking place, Israeli forces were bombing displaced Palestinians sheltering in tents in Rafah, Gaza, which had prompted a large outcry on social media in the last week.

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”.Now, Greenwood has responded to the criticism.

In a lengthy statement posted to his social media accounts, he began: “I’m playing festivals in Europe this summer with Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis.