By Rolene Marks

I am a huge Pink Floyd fan.  I join millions around the world in enjoying their profound if not psychedelic lyrics and splendid guitar riffs. Pink Floyd is the stuff of classic rock legend!

Over the last couple of years, the band has become less known for its music; and more for the bizarre and hate filled rantings of its former bass player, Roger Waters (76).

The rocker has found an obsession – he is poster erm….man for BDS (Boycott Divestment and Sanctions), a global “movement” who state their goal as the destruction of the state of Israel, through boycotts and isolation. This is at the expense of other global conflicts where they stay mysteriously silent.

Waters waxes lyrical (pun intended because is quite partial to a good ol’song!) about how “Nazi-like” Israel is, how other artists should boycott the Jewish state, a plea that is met with stony silence – and more than a little eye rolling. He also rabbits on about what a pariah state Israel is and has used stereotypical antisemitic imagery such as the pig balloon he floats at his concerts with a Magen David (Star of David) on it with dollar signs. He conveniently has steered clear of criticizing the Syrian regime for the wholesale slaughter of civilians or Russia’s Putin for the country’s treatment of the Ukraine.

He has also parlayed his “talents” for film. In 2019, Israel hosted the annual musical cheese fest, Eurovision as a result of winning the competition the previous year. A pro-BDS group in Switzerland produced a petition calling for it to be boycotted. Water’s good friend and founder of BDS, Omar Barghouti, he who magnificently has managed to successfully boycott Israel while having studied at Tel Aviv University forwarded him the petition (probably while using Israeli technology).  This naturally prompted the unhinged rocker to don his best fleece dressing gown and take to Twitter for a rant.

Scratching his face and staring at the camera, Waters declares that Barghouti’s email reminded him of “three choice ‘Fs,’” the first being “Film.” “There’s the film, and that film was the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Eurovision reminds me of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, because it seems it may have been taken over by, um, I believe it was aliens. I know, it’s giving aliens a bad name, but at the end of the movie, Donald Sutherland points at somebody like this” – Here, Waters points at the camera while making a silent scream face – “The body-snatchers are doing that now, but normally what they’re going is, ‘antisemite!’” Waters yells.

Waters’s “second F” is “Fable,” and he proceeds to parody The Emperor’s New Clothes. “Mommy, mommy, why is the emperor of Israel parading his Ethno-supremacist bullshit around naked?’ Enough with Netanyahu-hu-hu.”

The “third and final F” is “Faith.” As he taps his exposed chest, Waters declares Barghouti’s message restores “faith in my fellow human beings, faith in their capacity for love and empathy,” because “136,000 of our Swiss brothers and sisters have signed and delivered a petition demanding that the Eurovision pull out of the finals in Tel Aviv.”

Needless to say, the 2019 Eurovision in Tel Aviv was a massive success (barring a rather dodgy performance by Madonna) and introduced millions around the world to the vibrant, multicultural, robust democracy that is Israel – albeit with a side of disco cheese!

No wonder his former bandmates have decided to social distance themselves from him – permanently.

Imagine my glee when it was announced recently that the rockers had employed their own BDS campaign against former fellow bandmate and bassist, Roger Waters.  The band declared him persona non grata on ALL social media. Lead guitarist and vocalist, David Gilmour, declared him “irrelevant” and declared that Waters’ solo endeavours must not be mentioned. Ouch!

Waters has proven himself to be comfortably dumb over the last decade or so with his absolute obsession with Israel.  Perhaps his former bandmates are fatigued and their answer has been clear – wish you weren’t here…..

And so he isn’t.

Pursuing his new solo career as whiner par excellence, Waters latest musical offering about “from the river to the sea we will take back the land” is less lyrical anthem the likes of “Shine on you Crazy Diamond” or “Learning to Fly” but is sure to be a hit amongst the grossest anti-Semites and haters that lurk on the internet. He premiered his anthem for hate at a Naqba day event hosted online. With Coronavirus lockdowns putting the kibosh on marches and gatherings, these events have found oxygen online. Clearly, he has been spending his time in lockdown looking for more ways to spread hatred than to contribute something positive to a world currently in crisis.

The jig is up for Israel’s arch boycotter. Nobody is interested. There are more important things to be concerned about than an ageing rock star in a shabby dressing gown.

I remain a huge fan of Pink Floyd and delighted that Israel has and continues to welcome major acts like Jennifer Lopez, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and many, many others. Roger Waters will sadly go down in musical history as a disgraced bassist and just another pr*** in the wall of haters.