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Thom Yorke, lead vocalist and songwriter for Radiohead, said he would “absolutely not” perform in Israel in light of the country’s actions in Palestine. He was giving an interview to The Sunday Times with the band’s bassist Jonny Greenwood when he said he wouldn’t want to play “anywhere near the Netanyahu regime.”

The interview came as the band is about to embark on their first tour in seven years next month. Radiohead have faced pressure to distance themselves from Greenwood, who is married to Israeli artist Sharona Katan. For his part, the guitarist said he was “not ashamed of working with Arab and Jewish musicians.” He’s also taken part in anti-Netanyahu protests within Israel.

Yorke recalled his experience at the band’s Tel Aviv concert in 2017 when a well-connected individual came up to him and thanked him for performing in the country. He said, “It horrified me, truly, that the gig was being hijacked.”

Ed O’Brien, another member of Radiohead, separately told The Sunday Times that he also had regrets about playing in Israel. He said they should have played in Ramallah as well at the time. The band’s drummer, Philip Selway, said they were being asked to do the impossible in abandoning Greenwood because “that would mean the end of the band.”

Yorke has previously had confrontations with pro-Palestine activists, including at a concert in Melbourne last year, where he was heckled and stormed off stage. In a later statement, he called the Netanyahu regime “extremists” that “need to be stopped”. He also said the concert “didn’t really seem like the best moment to discuss the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”.

Radiohead start their upcoming tour in Madrid on November 5 with further stops in Bologna, London, Copenhagen and Berlin.