Roger Waters caused quite a stir in Israel last week. And it had nothing to do with his music.
Roger Waters, one of the founders of Pink Floyd, caused quite a stir in Israel last week. And it had nothing to do with his music.
On June 21st, the day before his concert, Waters traveled to a section of Israel’s security wall (also known as a separation fence) in Bethlehem and spray painted it. Waters scrawled “Tear Down the Wall” and “No Thought Control.” The latter tag, of course, was a lyric from his song Another Brick in the Wall, Part II from the album The Wall.
Waters told Reuters News Agency, “It’s a horrific edifice, this thing. I’ve seen pictures of it, I’ve heard a lot about it but without being here you can’t imagine how extraordinarily oppressive it is and how sad it is to see these people coming through these little holes. It’s craziness.”
The 62-year-old British rock icon likened the separation fence to the Berlin Wall. “It may be a lot harder to get this one down, but eventually it has to happen, otherwise there’s no point in being human beings,” said Waters when interviewed by the Associated Press.
Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben-Gvir of the Chayil Party (which was inspired, in part, by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane) petitioned the Magistrate’s Court in Jerusalem to detain Waters for destroying land and ruining property belonging to the Israeli Defense Forces. However, this did not come to pass as Waters left Israel for his next tour date in Moscow. Waters will be touring through Europe until mid-July and will then tour North America in September and October.
Waters has publicly opposed the separation fence since 2004 when he lent his name to a U.K. campaign against the fence initiated by War on Want, an organization that describes the security fence as an “apartheid wall.” “The poverty inflicted by the wall has been devastating for Palestinians. It has kept children from their schools, the sick from proper medical care and continues to destroy the Palestinian economy. I fully support War on Want’s campaign, and hope that as many people as possible will sign the wall – as a strong message to the UK government that immediate action is essential,” said Waters when he signed War on Want’s petition. In addition to opposing the separation fence, War on Want has also called for EU trade sanctions against Israel. Waters is not the only British musician who has supported War on Want’s campaign against the separation fence. In April 2005, the Scottish band Belle & Sebastian toured Israel as well as the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
In addition to his opposition to Israel’s separation fence, Waters is a fierce critic of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Britain’s participation in the War in Iraq. In September 2004, Waters released two songs on the Internet in the hopes of derailing President Bush’s re-election. The two songs, To Kill The Child and Leaving Beirut focused on the Bush Administration’s policies in Iraq. In Leaving Beirut Waters sings:
Oh George!
Oh George!
That Texas education must have fu**ed you up
When you were very small
What can I say, it’s no Dark Side of the Moon.
As for the concert itself, Waters drew some heat for deciding to perform in Israel. Very few Western acts perform in Israel in part due to security concerns and because of sympathies to the Palestinians. When Waters announced that he would perform in Tel Aviv he came under pressure from Palestinian activists urging him to cancel the concert, and received a letter from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) asking him to do such. PACBI, which is based in Ramallah, met with representatives from War on Want and later met directly with Waters himself. As a result of these meetings, Waters moved the concert from Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv to Neve Shalom, a community situated half-way between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Neve Shalom, which literally means Oasis of Peace, is a co-operative village consisting of both Jewish and Arabic families. The village is home to about 50 families but the concert was expected to attract 50,000 people. Needless to say, it created one of the biggest traffic jams in Israel’s history. Israeli officials did everything they could to accommodate the concert goers.
Toward the end of the concert, Waters addressed the crowd. “I believe we need this generation of Israelis to tear down the walls and make peace with their neighbors.” This was music to the ears of PACBI, which declared the day after the concert, “Roger Waters has proved to be the conscientious and morally driven artist that millions around the world, including in the OPT (Occupied Territories), have known him to be. He simply refuses to be another brick in Israel’s criminal Wall.”
Where does one begin?
Roger Waters might be responsible for some of the greatest rock n’ roll music of the last half of the 20th Century. But when it comes to Israel, Waters is about as responsible as his troubled ex-band mate Syd Barrett. Roger Waters needs an education.
First, where’s the craziness in the separation fence? Why should Israel allow people to cross from Gaza and the West Bank so they can kill people at pizzerias, discotheques and hotels and then kill the doctors and paramedics who are trying to help them? How is Israel supposed to defend itself? The Palestinian Authority will not crack down on those who wish to kill Israelis. Why? Because it is the Palestinian Authority that is encouraging the killing of Israelis. If the Palestinian Authority is knowingly allowing its people to go to Israel to kill Israelis what would Waters have Israel do about it? The Israeli government has an obligation to protect its people from such hooliganism. If Waters considers protecting one’s citizenry “horrific” or “extraordinarily oppressive” then Waters’ state of mind is on the dark side of the earth.
Second, how can any reasonable person liken Israel’s separation fence to the Berlin Wall? I am not the first person to point this out and probably will not be the last. But here it goes. The Berlin Wall kept East Germans in, the separation fence keeps suicide bombers out. The Palestinian Authority, unwilling to police itself and unwilling to negotiate with Israel in good faith, left Israel with no other choice.
Third, for Waters to suggest that Israel’s separation fence alone is responsible for Palestinian poverty and misery is completely daft. The Palestinian Authority has had more than a decade-long track record of corruption and mismanagement. If you want to start a business in the Palestinian Authority be prepared to pay a lot of money in bribes and kickbacks to government officials. There’s a market in the Palestinian Authority but it sure isn’t free. The Palestinians were in poverty long before Israel began erecting the separation fence.
Fourth, if the separation fence has kept Palestinian children from attending school it might not be an entirely bad thing. After all, Palestinian school textbooks praise suicide bombers as martyrs. Some schools are named after Palestinian terrorists, such as a girls’ school near Hebron which was named after Dalal Mughrabi, who in 1978 led a group of Palestinians to massacre a bus killing 36 people, including an American photographer, Gail Rubin. Talk about thought control. If I had an opportunity to meet Roger Waters face to face this is what I would ask him. If Palestinian schools are named after people who murder Israelis and Palestinian children are being taught that it is their duty to kill Israelis, isn’t it time to say, “Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone?”
Finally, why is the onus on this generation of Israelis to make peace with their neighbors? Israel has accepted Palestinian self-determination and recognizes President Mahmoud Abbas as their partner in peace if he so chooses. The last time I checked the Palestinian people elected Hamas to run their affairs, an organization that does not recognize the State of Israel and is committed to its destruction. Israel has extended an olive branch while the Palestinians are bent on breaking it. Why doesn’t Roger Waters tell Palestinians that their duty is to live peaceably with Israelis instead of achieving martyrdom by killing themselves and as many Israelis as they possibly can? Why doesn’t Roger Waters shout, “Hey, suicide bomber, leave those kids alone?”
Roger Waters does not do so because he has bought into the Left’s raison d’être hook, line and sinker. He holds all the fashionable opinions expected of an aging, though still iconic, rock star. America is bad. Israel is bad. The War in Iraq is bad. The Palestinians and all who oppose these things are good. The only thing that’s missing from Waters is a kafieh. But the Left can forgive him that. He has a full head of Richard Gere-like hair and a face that simply must be let free.
This doesn’t mean I’m going to throw out my Pink Floyd collection. I have Atom Heart Mother and Relics on CD. And somewhere in my closet I have old cassettes of Dark Side of the Moon and A Saucerful of Secrets. I will continue to play these songs from time to time and enjoy them. But just because I enjoy listening to Pink Floyd does not mean I enjoy Roger Waters’ politics. Roger Waters can support the Palestinians to his heart’s content. But he better be prepared to be criticized for his views and be prepared to defend them to critical scrutiny. If he’s not prepared for the criticism and scrutiny he might just wish he wasn’t here.
When it comes to matters of geo-political importance for countries of which he is not a citizen; Mr. Waters should kindly keep his mouth shut.
From: http://www.britemb.org.il/contact/WhoWeAre.html :
“The aim of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is to promote the interests of the United Kingdom internationally and to contribute to a strong world community. How do we do this in Israel?
At the Embassy, we aim to promote stability in the Middle East, by reducing the tension and the violence between the Israelis and the Palestinians and engaging the sides in negotiations.
United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI) aims to enhance the trading relationship between the UK and Israel. UKTI’s role is to stimulate and build on the Israel-UK trading relationship by providing guidance, advice, and assistance to companies. We also attach great importance in encouraging Israeli firms to realise the potential of the City of London as a major financial centre and to consider setting up business in the UK.
In addition, we aim to promote cultural, educational and scientific co-operation between the UK and Israel. We run active arts and science government schemes and host numerous cultural events.”
Does Mr. Waters beleive his childish act of vandalism serves such purposes? Or- as leftisits/ liberals are so oft known to do; does he fully immerse himself in self-contradiction to abandon such valid and worthwhile (even politically correct?) notions and step away from such ideas because he feels they’re too closely related to the government run by the honorable Mr. Blair?
And from: http://www.britemb.org.il/contact/ObjectivesFco.html
“FCO Aims and Objectives
Foreign and Commonwealth Office Objectives for Spending Review 2004 Period (2005-2008)”
“The FCO agreed with the Treasury a revised set of high-level Objectives and Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets for 2005/06 to 2007/8 under the 2004 Spending Review.
Aim
To work for UK interests in a safe, just and prosperous world.
Objective I: A world safer from global terrorism and weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
1.To deter, check and roll back programmes for the development of WMD and related delivery systems in countries of concern, and to reduce the supply of, and demand for, such weapons world-wide.
2. To reduce the risk from international terrorism so that UK citizens can go about their business freely and with confidence.
Objective II: Protection of the UK from illegal immigration, drug trafficking and other international crime.
Objective III: An international system based on the rule of law, which is better able to resolve disputes and prevent conflicts. ”
Has his ideology so blinded him that the common sense dictates placed ahead of his excursion to the Holy Land by those specifically trained (and elected) to do so should be ignored if not spat upon? Does he not value safety, justice and prosperity- or perhaps only when he’s sipping tea and having his breakfast of toast and hard-boiled eggs back at the mansion are these things important?
What nerve. And the audacity to insult the very people from whom he so gladly profits , accepting concert-ticket & record-sale revenues with reckless intemperance… And to suggest the security fence is “…a horrific edifice…” How horrific for those who’s faces turned to bloody goo as a result of the mindless pursuit of suicide-by-explosion, how horrifc to be dismemebered while lunching with one’s parents and children, how horrific to mourn the loss of families slaughtered with nail bombs
How embarrsing for the common people of England.
How embarrasing for so many who desperately disagree with such foolish meddling, and that may actually own a Pink Floyd record… Should such outbursts be viewed as harmless and inquisitorial? Or insensitive, damaging and downright malicious?
How ironic that this man has in his history an album named ‘Meddle’ and that in his late twenties he would actually collaborate in writing it’s lyrics, words from a song that have now become strangley autobiographical:
“Fearlessly the idiot faced the crowd…”
Thank you Mr. Waters, now mind your own business.
Perhaps Roger Waters is not a brave man. Perhaps he is afraid of Hamas´ violence.
If he told us the truth, he would be victim of palestinian terror. Who likes to feel
terror?
Actually, “Tear Down the Wall” and “No Thought Control.” are both lyrics from his song “Another Brick in the Wall”.
Show me a 20 year old that is not a liberal and I’ll show you a man with no heart (and no thoughts of his own), show me a 62 year old rock musician who is a liberal and I’ll show you a total freaking burned out idiot.
This is typical idotic behavior from the far, far left. It has a problems with the Palistians being poor, but he wants trade sanctions on Isreal??? I love his music and always will but he is a joke.
I am so tired to over paid, in need of attention so called entertainment types attempting to tell others how to live. They prey on the young and uninformed. This jerk wants the wall to come down, then he goes home to his mansion behind
iron gates. If he is worried about the Palistian being poor and unfed, why doesn’t he give some of his drug money to them? I am not impressed.
As his argument lacks logic, it is no doubt easiest to use personal attacks; however, as someone who has followed his carrer I do wish that instead of accusing him of living behind iron bars or selling drugs that people would think before they speak. I thought this was the “intellectual” conservative. This is a common problem with most republicans (they being fundamentally different from conservatives) they lack a solid argument so they degrade the person’s character. While it has made Bill O’Reily a wealthy man, it does little to increase the debate over such an important issue as this article deals with. Lets stop running each other into the ground and begin to talk and even more importantly, listen.
Shine on You crazy Diamond
I agree with with Roger Waters. With this wall built on occupied land there will never
be peace. The wall is is going right through Palestinians villages, right through schoolyards.
It is indeed a new Berlin wall. Shame on the Israeli government.
I will not resort to name calling, but I will say that Mr. Waters opinions lack any merit. As pointed out in the article above, the fence in East Germany kept people IN, this keeps murderers, OUT!
Don’t the Israelis have the right to build a fence if they wish? It’s their country, isn’t it?
I’m not sure about this next point, but I’ll throw it out here anyway. I think another difference between the German and Israeli fences is that it wasn’t the Germans who wanted (and built) the fence, it was the U.S.S.R. If true, I think that’s a huge difference.
Waters has morphed into a member of the surrogate band that filled in for Pink and sang “In the Flesh” and “Run Like Hell.” The lyrics from “In the Flesh” are particularly appropriate:
“That one looks Jewish!
And that one’s a coon!
Who let all of this riff-raff into the room?
There’s one smoking a joint,
And another with spots!
If I had my way,
I’d have all of you shot!”
Geez, that sounds like a demented Dr. Seuss.
I can accept the wall if it was built on the border but most of it is built on occupied terratory.
It seperates Paletinians from each other. A farmer can have his house on one side and
his land on the other side. A school can have the schoolhouse on one side and the playground on the
other side. The wall will create more hate. I honestly don´t think that the Israelis want peace.
The wall causes Palestinians incovenience and hardship? Tough sh–t! The Israelis were driven to construct it because Palestinians have the nasty habit of strapping bombs to themselves and detonating them among innocent Israelis eating pizza or celebrating weddings. If a wall will reduce this barbarism, build it as high as heaven.
How can anyone claiming to have a functioning intellect claim it is the Israelis who don’t want peace? The evidence is occuring before our very eyes. Israel forcefully removed its own people from the occupied territories several months ago and within weeks the Palestinians began lobbing missles into Israel. Now the Palestinians at the urging of Syria and Iran are kidnapping and murdering Israeli soldiers and teenagers. Gunnar S, deprogram yourself from Leftist propaganda and start seeing the stark reality. The Palestinians and the states supporting them are responsible for the bloodshed in the Middle East.
As a side note..
I noticed something odd before the fence when the suicide bombing was more frequent (along with Israeli retaliation).
I would look at the headlines of certain news outlets on a given day. If there was a suicide bombing, the headline was something like “Bomb blast kills three” or “5 injured in suicide blast”.
When it was an Israeli retaliatory strike however, the headlines were more like “3 women killed” or “Children dead after strike”. These headlines aren’t exact, I’m just trying to give the idea since I don’t remember the headlines exactly.
The headlines only mentioned human beings when Palestinians were killed. At best, a headline might mention that a bomb blast killed “Israelis”, but they never seemed to be men or women or children.
No, I don’t think all news outlets did this, and probably not even most of them, but some certainly did. I thought it rather odd. I wonder if they even realized they were doing it. Probably not.
musical middleweight, socio-political midget. he’s cashed in on “wah wah wah, my daddy died in a war” for a long time. he got no notice around the time of the first gulf war when he mouthed off, and he got no notice this time. a cocooned poof, he should stick to what he knows: playing a plodding, middling bass guitar and endlessly composing overorchestrated laments exploiting his LSD-crazed first love and creative better, Syd Barrett
I notice that he signed the Israeli side of the wall, in safety. Next time throw him over the wall and let him scrawl his crap on that side. They would just love a nice juicy british hostage, specially one like him.
I didn’t know anything about Waters’s political militancy when I bought his beautiful cd “Amazed to death”. Well, it’s beautiful, till you begin to pay attention to the lyrics. That’s when I realized that he had incarnated all the leftist prejudices, including the considerations about christianism and power. It’s sad that a man of his age can be so immature in his positions. He is part of a majority that claims all the time to be a minority, a victim of the “dominant thought”, while they carry on with their oppressive accusations on anyone who don’t think like them.
The same dark, brooding that permeates the majority of Floyd’s offerings….Waters has long ago become a parody of himself.
Oh I’m sorry to say I side with the London punks of the seventies who wore t shirts scrawled with ” I hate Pink Floyd” — they did so to protest (in their own dysfunctional way) the bloated corpse which popular music had become. That was a long time ago and the decay has only progressed to the point where a mediocre psudointellectual pseudoartist like Roger Waters can still think that he has a coherent point to make.
on a subject about which he apparently knows little.
There’s a ‘peace wall’ in Belfast, it does what it was designed to do…. it separates. Is someone trying to tell me that wall is a good idea? Odd, I though dialogue, dicsussion and understanding was a good start.