Roger Waters on why he asked musicians to boycott Israel
During a conversation with German newspaper Der Spiegel, in the face of Frankfurt recently banning a set of Roger Waters concerts, the former Pink Floyd man has shared why he’s asking musicians not to play concerts in Israel.
Waters met Der Spiegel in London alongside the director of Anne Frank Education Centre and author of the book Talking about Israel Meron Mendel to discuss why the German city had banned Waters from performing in the city.
The city’s magistrate confirmed that the concert at the Festhalle venue would be “immediately cancelled extraordinarily for good cause”. The main reason for this cancellation was Waters’ support of the BDS movement, which has asked the public, including a host of musicians, to boycott Israel in an attempt to change the country’s policy on Palestine.
Throughout the conversation with Der Spiegel, Waters maintained that “I am not an antisemite. I have never been an antisemite, and I will never be one,” and also shared why he would never break the “picket line” of BDS.
In Waters’ opinion: “The mandate and task of BDS is first and foremost to empower the Palestinian people.” While Mendel claimed: “BDS punishes these people instead of strengthening them. Liberal and progressive forces don’t have it easy in Israel. And if they want to come to Europe and America, they are boycotted there.”
Mendel continuously purported the need for dialogue over boycott, highlighting that the Israeli people were protesting many of the human rights issues Waters was trying to shine a light on. The Pink Floyd man continued: “If the people of Israel want peace, let them choose peace. Let them admit that this experiment was a mistake and give the people back their stolen land and the human rights they are legally entitled to. That is all. It’s not complicated.”
That is why he has previously asked many of his musical colleagues to follow his lead and boycott the country: “Musicians like those you mentioned [Nick Cave and Radiohead] would probably agree with Professor Mendel, and advise me: ‘Go to Israel, talk to students in the cafés. We can have disagreements and talk about it and everything will be fine.’ No, everything won’t be fine talking to students won’t help. The fact in the occupied territories is: if you are Jewish, you have rights. And if you are not Jewish, you don’t have them. It’s as simple as that.”
Waters will not be changing his mind on performing in Israel any time soon. The musician confirmed: “I am making my contribution by not singing ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ in Tel Aviv. So can we please stop even thinking about that? Because it’s not going to happen. I’m not going to break the picket line, end of story. The cause of my oppressed brothers and sisters in Palestine is more important to me than the needs of Israeli fans of my music in Israel. I will be there in a heartbeat when human rights apply to all in Israel and the occupied territories.”
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