Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters is once again causing a stir with his comments about what is happening in Israel. Waters made the comments in an interview with US journalist Glenn Greenwald on the show “System update” Doubts about the events that took place on October 7, 2023. The 80-year-old said the world doesn’t know “what really happened” and speculated about the possibility of a “false flag operation” by Israel.
Criticism of Israel and accusations of over-dramatization
Waters accuses Israel of exaggerating the Islamist Hamas attack and “making up stories.” He expressed doubts about the civilian deaths and the role of Hamas. Waters finds it “extremely suspicious” that the Israeli military was allegedly so surprised and points to Israel’s well-secured borders and state-of-the-art intelligence service. “We don’t know what [die Hamas] did during the invasion,” said the musician.
Waters emphasizes that if war crimes have been committed, he condemns them. But this also applies to the alleged over-dramatization on the part of Israel: “If war crimes have been committed, I condemn them. But the whole thing was totally blown up by the Israelis.” He is referring to the allegation that Israel invented stories about baby beheading that stem from a brutal Hamas attack on an Israeli community. That claim was later retracted before being confirmed by a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, releasing photos showing the cremated remains of infants.
Roger Waters’ reliance on questionable sources
When asked about evidence of war crimes by Hamas, Waters cited an article from The Grayzone, a newspaper known for its pro-Russian propaganda and trivialization of crimes. It states that the first 400 killed were Israeli military personnel, which Waters says means it was “not a war crime.”
In the worst massacre in Israel’s history on October 7 and the following days, more than 1,400 people were killed, including many women, children and teenagers. In his comments, Waters did not address the tragic events at the “Nova Music Festival,” where 260 people were murdered.
Further allegations of anti-Semitism
Roger Waters was also recently the focus of a controversial documentary called The Dark Side Of Roger Waters, produced by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism. The film highlights various incidents that are interpreted as suspected anti-Semitism on the part of the musician. In a post on his official website, Waters was critical of the documentary, calling it a “flimsy, uncompromising piece of propaganda.” He claimed that the film randomly mixes things he allegedly said or did at different times and in different contexts, with the aim of portraying him as an anti-Semite, without any factual basis.
The documentary focuses on a controversial concert in Germany in May that was criticized by the US State Department, calling it “deeply offensive to the Jewish people.” At the time, Waters defended the use of a swastika-like emblem on stage as a statement against fascism, injustice and bigotry.