Radiohead returned to perform at Glastonbury for the first time in 20 years and were met by members of the crowd waving Palestinian flags and calling for the band to cancel an upcoming show in Israel.

While some waved Palestinian flags, one banner read: ‘Israel is an apartheid state. Radiohead, don’t play there.’ The anti-Israel action was organized after campaigner Michael Daes used a YouTube interview to call for the crowd to protest.

As Breitbart Jerusalem reported, the opposition to Radiohead peforming in the Jewish State began in April when an open letter signed by a number of performers, as well as by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was released. It tells the band to “think again” about heading to Tel Aviv and playing in a country  “where a system of apartheid has been imposed on the Palestinian people”.

Among the 47 signatories are Wolf Hall writer Peter Kosminsky, Scottish Mercury Prize-winners Young Fathers and actors Ricky Tomlinson, Miriam Margolyes, Maxine Peake, and Juliet Stevenson.

The letter was organised by Artists For Palestine UK. It follows previous requests by Palestinian activists for Radiohead to pull out of the 19 July concert.

 Radiohead played three shows in Tel Aviv in 1993 when they were still a struggling band with only a single album under their belt.

“Creep,” the most famous song from their debut album, gained wide radio play in Israel and the country was one of the first places outside the UK where the band won recognition.

Follow Simon Kent on Twitter: or e-mail to: skent@breitbart.com
//