The allusions to Holocaust of the former leader of Pink Floyd, Roger Watersin his show berlin generated outrage in the international community, which was quick to express its discontent and condemned the actions.
The Jewish community was one of the first to speak out about it. Dr. Ariel Gelblung, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Latin America, harshly attacked the musician, whom he accused of being a “consummate anti-Semite, obsessive with delegitimizing the only Jewish State where the world’s largest Jewish community resides, support of groups terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah”, who “use their shows to spread hate”.
“Hypocrite who defends dictatorships and genocide holding presumed solidarity with their peoples, but He only performs his shows where he can fill himself with the money he claims to despise.. If he repeats in Latin America the performances he presented in Europe, it is possible that he will be prosecuted in more than one country.”, the message continued in a warning tone.
In support of these statements, the State of Israel He posted a message on his social media. “Good morning to all except Roger Waters, who spent the night in Berlin desecrating the memory of Anne Frank and the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust”, reads the post.
In his show, the musician came on stage wearing a black uniform, similar to that used by the Nazi SS, along with a red armband and even pointed a fake rifle. On the other hand, he included among the scenery a giant inflatable pig with words and symbols such as the Jewish star and banners in the style of the Third Reich with crossed hammers instead of swastikas (an aesthetic that Pink Floyd has used since the 1970s and that became famous for the movie The Wall).
Another of the voices that joined the condemnation was Danny Danon, Israel’s permanent representative to the UN and member of the Knesset (Parliament), who shared on his Twitter account two images of the show in which the names of Shireen Abu Akleh and Anna Frank, and accompanied them with a strong message: “At a concert in Berlin, Roger Waters compared Anne Frank to Shireen Abu Akleha journalist who was shot while in an active combat zone. Waters seeks to compare Israel to the Nazis. He is shamefully one of the greatest enemies of the Jews of our time. And he’s a worse musician than David Gilmour.”
Danon referred to a segment of the show in which the artist projected the names of murdered activists by the authorities of different countries, among them the anti-Nazi activist sophie schol; the iranian Mahsa Amini, who was killed by the Tehran morality police; the african american George Floyd; and Anna Frankjust after the Shireen Abu Akleha veteran Palestinian-American journalist believed to have been shot dead last year by Israeli soldiers during a firefight with Palestinian militants.
He also took to social media Israeli ambassador to Chile, Gil Artzyelliwho expressed his dissatisfaction with this “last ‘grace'” of the singer, who “visited himself as a Nazi”. “That’s right, he put on the SS uniform,” she wrote.
He then resumed Gelblung’s repudiation of his support for regimes in the region: “His moral standard is more than doubtful since he also supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine and defends ‘democracy’ in Venezuela among other dictatorships.” “In November he will give two concerts in Chile, an excellent opportunity for anti-Semites, neo-Nazis, pro-invasion of Ukraine, Chavistas and totalitarians of all kinds to go see him and feel comfortable,” he added ironically.
Faced with the controversy aroused by the presentation, the germany police was not indifferent and announced that it has opened a investigation against the British musician for possible hate speech.
The clothing with which he went on stage is likely to “glorify” National Socialist violence in a way “hurtful to the dignity of the victims” and, consequently, “disturbing public order”, declared the spokesman for the security forces, Martin Halweg.
This announcement was celebrated by the organization Stop Antisemitismwho shared a video of Waters’ presentation on their networks and celebrated: “Great news! Berlin police launched a criminal investigation into Roger Waters after his concert in which he dressed as a Nazi SS officer with a gun and denigrated the murder of Anne Frank.”.
“Amazingly AMC Theaters is currently promoting Waters,” he concluded.
Likewise, the actions of the police were well received by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which had asked the German authorities to prosecute the musician for the events: “Shame on the authorities in Frankfurt and the Mercedes Benz Arena in Berlin, a place from which the Jews were deported by the Nazis, for providing the anti-semite Roger Waters with this venue for his concert without any concern/care for the Jewish community.”
The British musician has a long history of controversy over the Holocaust and the State of Israel. Without hesitation, he often comes across as a fervent supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movementwhose objective is to boycott and divest funds from Israel and even compared the treatment of the State of Israel and the Palestinians with the Holocaust.
This type of dispute even led the authorities of frankfurt canceled their concert on May 28, although, later, the Justice ruled in favor of their appeal to the freedom of expression.
“The show will start in 10 minutes and a Frankfurt court has ruled that I am not an anti-Semite (…) To be clear, I condemn anti-Semitism without reservation,” he defended himself in a statement projected moments before his presentation this Thursday.
In the German capital, where Waters recently performed, more than 60,000 Jews were deported to their deaths during World War II. In addition, it was the scene of the “Kristallnacht” purge in November 1938, in which most of the city’s synagogues were burned and Jewish-owned shops and homes were vandalized and looted.
Keep reading:
“Anti-Semitic, liar and misogynist”: the tweet that reignited a 40-year feud between Roger Waters and David Gilmour
Berlin police investigate Roger Waters after wearing a costume that would glorify Nazism
The trial of Eichmann, the architect of the Holocaust: how he sought to justify the horror and his final night before hanging
Source-www.infobae.com