Radiohead Tom Yorke Arguments With Audience Over Gaza War During Performance

Rock band 'Radio Head' lead vocalist Tom York was temporarily removed from the stage during an Australian show after arguing with a pro-Palestinian audience over the Gaza war.

On the 30th local time, at the end of York's solo tour in Melbourne, a man in the audience shouted at York, "condemn Israel's massacre in Gaza," and "How many children will die to condemn the massacre in Gaza?"

Yorke responded, "Come up here and tell me. "Don't stand there like a coward, come here and tell me," he replied, "do you want to ruin the night for everyone?"

Yorke walked off the stage as some of the audience booed.

York got back on stage a few minutes later as the waiting audience chanted his name, singing Radiohead's "Karma Police," released in 1997, as the final song of the show and leaving.

Radio Head received much criticism for performing in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2017 despite opposition from pro-Palestinian activists.

At the time, pro-Palestinian groups and other cultural figures criticized Radiohead for joining the anti-Israel international movement "BDS" (boycott, withdrawal of investment and sanctions against Israel's Palestinian policies).

However, York said on social media that "playing in a country is not like supporting that government," and that they also performed in the U.S., where Donald Trump is president.

He added, "Music, art, and learning are about crossing borders, not building borders."

Earlier this year, when another member of Radio Head, Johnny Greenwood, was accused of performing with Israeli musician Dudu Thasa in Tel Aviv, Greenwood also said, "Silencing Israeli artists for being born Jewish in Israel is not a way for both sides of this endless conflict to understand each other."