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Photo: AFP
Roger Waters in Israel (archives)
Photo: AFP

Roger Waters presents: 'Star of David' bombs

(Video) Anti-Defamation League criticizes rock music icon for using imagery associated with stereotypes about Jews, money as part of a segment of his 'The Wall Live' Tour that takes aim at Israel’s West Bank separation fence

VIDEO - The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Monday criticized rock music icon Roger Waters for using imagery long associated with stereotypes about Jews and money as part of a segment of his 2010-2011 “The Wall Live” Tour that takes aim at Israel’s West Bank security fence.

 

During his performances of “Goodbye Blue Sky,” an animated scene projects images of planes dropping bombs in the shape of Jewish Stars of David followed by dollar signs, according to an interview in the September 30 issue of Rolling Stone.

 

Controversial performance in Toronto

 

Waters, 67, is a known left-wing activist who has spoken against Israel's policy in the territories. "It's a horrific edifice, this thing," he told reporters in 2006 as he stood beside a section of the separation fence in Bethlehem.

 

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued a statement saying that "it is outrageous that Roger Waters has chosen to use the juxtaposition of a Jewish Star of David with the symbol of dollar signs. While he insists that his intent was to criticize Israel’s West Bank security fence, the use of such imagery in a concert setting seems to leave the message open to interpretation, and the meaning could easily be misunderstood as a comment about Jews and money.

 

"Of course Waters has every right to express his political views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through his music and stagecraft. However, the images he has chosen, when put together in the same sequence, cross a line into anti-Semitism.

 

"We wish that Waters had chosen some other way to convey his political views without playing into and dredging up the worst age-old anti-Semitic stereotype about Jews and their supposed obsession with making money."

 

It should be noted that the clip also displays bombs in the shape of crosses, Muslim crescents and a fuel company's logo.

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.29.10, 10:13
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