A group of Israeli musicians wrote an open letter published in Mondoweiss, asking the band, Radiohead to heed the calls of human rights activists and cancel their upcoming performance in Tel Aviv on July 19.
Their letter was published following comments by Thom York, the band’s leader, who made comments about Roger Waters and Desmond Tutu, saying he “just can’t understand why going to play a rock show or going to lecture at a university [is a problem to them].”
Israeli musicians ask Thom Yorke to cancel Radiohead concert in Israel & respect Palestinian call 4 cultural boycott https://t.co/o6gYsDdGOO pic.twitter.com/kpn2WIpanZ
— BDS Movement (@BDSmovement) June 30, 2017
The Israeli musicians stressed their backing of the stand Waters and Tutu have taken and encouraged Radiohead to follow suit, saying, “Every international artist who plays in Israel serves as a propaganda tool for the Israeli government. International performances in Israel serve the government’s agenda of whitewashing its war crimes against Palestinians by creating a “business as usual” atmosphere wherein the status-quo, a reality of colonization and military occupation for Palestinians, becomes normalized.”
They continued, saying, “Israel is increasingly notorious for being a place that forward-thinking artists who care about equality and freedom want little to do with. We are confident that this reality will contribute to moving the Israeli government to change its unjust policies, and help convince companies to divest from Israel, just as they did in apartheid South Africa.”
(Palestine Chronicle)
