Roger Waters, who is considered one of the world's prominent anti-Israel voices, once again expressed his opinion regarding the Israeli-Hamas conflict. Bono, the band U2's lead singer, led a tribute to the victims of the Nova Festival massacre that did not sit well with Waters.
“Anybody who knows Bono should go and pick him up by his ankles and shake him… until he stops being an enormous s***,” said Waters in an interview with Qatari news network Al Jazeera. “We have to start saying to these people, your opinion is so disgusting and so degrading… sticking up for the Zionist entity,” he added. “What he did a couple of weeks ago in the Sphere in Las Vegas, singing about the Stars of David, was one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
On October 9, during a U2 concert at their regular venue in Las Vegas, the band's lead singer changed part of the lyrics of the song "Pride" as a tribute to the victims of the music festival. “We sing for our brothers and sisters, who themselves were singing at the Supernova Sukkot festival in Israel. We sing for those. Our people. Our kind of people. Music people. Playful, experimental people. Our kind of people. We sing for them.”
In the third verse of the song, he changed the lyrics and sang them as follows (loosely translated): "Early morning, October 7th / The sun is rising in the desert sky / Stars of David, they took your life / But they could not take your pride.” Then he said to the audience, "Music and peace festival. Can you understand what these sons of b****es did?"
In a new video posted by U2 on Instagram, Bono said, "To see what Abraham's children are doing to each other around the world for a thousand years, and even today, it's confusing. Christians, Muslims, Jews. It's confusing. To see the suffering of Palestinian children, after we've seen the suffering of Israeli children, it's almost too much. I understand how disgusting 'love your neighbor as yourself' sounds right now, but it's a divine commandment and not advice. It's easy to say, but almost impossible to do." He then started singing "Peace on Earth."
Alongside the video on Instagram, it was written: "Peace on earth, we need it now... They're calling names on the radio, the people we will never know... Gilad and Udi, Hind and Milkah. Their lives are bigger than any big idea."
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Waters's defense of Hamas and justification for October 7
In November, just over a month after October 7, Waters justified the massacre carried out by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip and questioned the number of casualties published by Israel. In an interview with American journalist Glenn Greenwald, Waters said, "My first response to the attack was 'let's wait and see what happened.' My second thought was 'how on earth did the Israelis not know this was going to happen?! Didn't the Israeli army hear the explosions at the bases when Hamas blew up the border fence? There's something strange about this."
When asked by the interviewer if it is possible to justify Hamas's terrorism, Waters replied, "They are absolutely legally and morally obligated to resist the occupation, and that the attack was "made disproportionate by Israelis who invented stories of baby beheading “.
His comments led to a series of cancellations at hotels he was supposed to stay at during his tour in South America. Hotels in Argentina, Uruguay, and Colombia refused to host him.
Additionally, at the end of January, the record company BMG canceled its contract with Waters following his antisemitic statements. BMG, one of the largest German companies in the world, will part ways with Waters due to his controversial statements towards Israel, Ukraine, and the United States, according to Variety.
BMG signed a contract with the musician in 2016 and was supposed to release a newly recorded version of Pink Floyd's 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon last year, but the new CEO Thomas Coesfeld canceled the deal. The album will eventually be released through the British company Cooking Vinyl.