Letter from Alison

Dear Colin, Ed, Jonny, Phil and Thom, I am a long time Radiohead fan who can’t believe that you are playing in Tel Aviv this summer. Have you taken leave of your senses? Seriously? I guess you will be playing for Putin next, and then maybe Trump, a special at Mar-a-Lago one weekend, perhaps? I live in London and was planning to come and see you in Milan and Florence in June but I can’t, I just can’t come, when people from Gaza and the West Bank are not able to travel freely within Israel to come and see you play, and experience the wonder of the live Radiohead. It's bad enough that the Israeli government enforces apartheid, but do you have to do so as well? I was listening to Harry Patch (In Memory Of) last week, and as I was doing so, I thought, where is this Radiohead – this politically aware, emotionally attuned, sensitive band that could create and release this – in 2009 and again in 2016? How can you respond to that situation of WW1, and Harry Patch’s experience as the last surviving soldier, with such tenderness and yet also do this in 2017? Why are you willing to break the cultural boycott and play to a segregated audience in Israel? Palestinian civil society called the boycott to combat the state of apartheid that is imposed on them by Israeli authorities. Palestinians routinely have their homes destroyed and their land taken away. It's been that way since 1948. That deserves a song about it too. And to learn that the venue you will perform in, Hayarkon Park, is on the site of a Palestinian village called Jarisha which was wiped off the map in 1948, is just too much for me. You guys have lost it, you really have. Too many New York fashion shows and DJ sets? Too much dope? Wake up wake up wake up and do something that can make a difference. Hold a concert for Palestine. Draw attention to the issues. Write a song. Do a dance. It's not too late. Love Alison