NewsCall for a boycott of Israel: criticism of Roger...

Call for a boycott of Israel: criticism of Roger Waters performance

Created: 10/10/2022 5:24 p.m

Musiker Roger Waters
Roger Waters rejects the allegations of anti-Semitism and stresses that these allegations are always leveled when someone criticizes Israeli policies. © Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP/dpa

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has drawn criticism for his call for a boycott of Israel – including his view of the Ukraine war. A Munich concert by the musician is now causing trouble.

Munich – A planned appearance by Pink Floyd founding member Roger Waters in Munich has triggered criticism because of his political views. Bavaria’s anti-Semitism commissioner Ludwig Spaenle said that Waters had positioned himself clearly anti-Semitic as a supporter of the Israel boycott movement BDS. “I would like the musician to clearly distance himself from the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement,” he says. “One can criticize the specific policies of every state government, including the Israeli one. But the right of the State of Israel to exist is non-negotiable for me.” He called on the city to cancel the contract for the concert planned for March 2023 in the city’s Olympiahalle if Waters did not distance himself from the boycott movement.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center ranked Waters tenth in its 2018 list of the worst anti-Semitic incidents. The BDS movement calls on musicians, athletes, companies and politicians not to invest in or perform in Israel. Waters has denied allegations of anti-Semitism, saying those allegations are raised whenever anyone criticizes Israeli policies.

Mayor positions himself clearly

Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) was also critical of Waters’ statements on the war against Ukraine. “In the light of the conspiracy-theoretical statements about Russia’s war of aggression, I can only ask Olympiapark GmbH to check again whether this concert actually has to take place, also with a view to our partner city Kyiv, which is currently experiencing terrible bomb attacks by Russia again,” he said. “It irritates me a lot that the Olympiapark GmbH is allowing this concert to take place on urban land. I had no knowledge of it.” The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” had previously reported on criticism of the concert from Munich politicians.

The Olympiapark München GmbH, in turn, said on Monday: “We have coordinated with the responsible authorities in the city and assessments by the lawyers and the administration came to the conclusion that there is no legally justifiable possibility to give the organizer of Roger Waters not to rent the Olympic Hall.” The deputy managing director of the GmbH, Nils Hoch, told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” that there “was no longer a legal reason” “not to offer the date”. Because at the beginning of 2022, the Federal Administrative Court decided that Munich was not allowed to impose a ban on an event on the BDS movement critical of Israel. In terms of content, however, he is “fully on the side of the mayor” when criticizing Waters, said Hoch.

Controversial views on the Ukraine war

The Brit Waters, whose band sang “We don’t need no thought control” in their anthem “Another Brick In The Wall”, caused outrage in Kyiv and applause in Moscow in August with comments on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. US President Joe Biden “stokes the fire in Ukraine,” he told US moderator Michael Smerconish at the time. “This is a great crime.” Waters claimed, against Smerconish’s objection, that the US was prolonging the war. If Biden wanted, the war would be “over tomorrow”.

Russia’s ex-president Dmitry Medvedev felt confirmed at the time. “There are still adequate people in the West. Pink Floyd forever,” he wrote on his page on the vkontakte social network. He accompanied his commentary with the song “Wish You Were Here” by Waters. dpa

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