As I have posted here a few times before, one of Roger Waters’ most pernicious lies about Israel concerns his fans who came to see him perform at Neve Shalom in 2006:
“They spent the whole night going like they do,” Waters said, pantomiming fans enthusiastically waving their arms in the air, “until we got to the end of the evening, when I said — I stood up in front of all that, and said, ‘You are the generation of young Israelis who must make peace with your brothers and sisters in the neighborhood and bring in a new era of ‘etcetera etcetera etcetera.’ And they went from, [here, Waters waved his arms again overhead] to ‘what the fuck’s he talking about?’ [here, Waters crossed his arms and scowled] – in a heartbeat. And it was one of the most chilling sights I’ve ever seen in my life.”
As I said, it is a bold-faced lie:
Now we have word that this isn’t Waters’ only lie about the Neve Shalom concert and his 2006 visit to Israel:
Producer Shuki Weiss was the man who brought Waters to Israel. Weiss repeatedly described himself as a devoted fan of Waters and Pink Floyd and framed the concert as the fulfillment of a dream and the peak of his career. And like any great dream, he moved mountains — literally, in Waters’ case.
In the years that followed, host and guest exchanged open letters and public insults. Weiss repeatedly tried to initiate dialogue, but Waters, whom he describes as ungrateful and rude, dismissed him more than once. At one point, Weiss invited him back to Israel — not to perform, only to talk.
“Never,” Waters replied. “I will not legitimize the government’s actions for any amount of money. I am part of the boycott movement.”
Since then, Weiss has avoided speaking publicly about Waters — until now. He is still furious, as if not two days but no time at all had passed, especially about what he calls Waters’ repeated lies.
One of them concerns moving the concert from Yarkon Park to Neve Shalom. Waters has repeatedly claimed that he himself asked to relocate the show there “as a gesture of solidarity with the voices of reason among Israelis and Palestinians seeking a nonviolent path to a just peace.”
“Absolute nonsense. It was my idea,” Weiss says. “Waters didn’t know what a chickpea field was. He didn’t know what Neve Shalom was. Unlike other artists who came here and wanted to meet people and understand reality in Israel, Waters did not spend a minute trying to learn, meet people or travel around. Nothing interested him. Not the occupation, nothing. On his first day in Israel he went to a luxury restaurant. On the second day he skipped a ceremonial tree planting organized in his honor in Neve Shalom. Crowds of Jews and Arabs waited there excitedly and he didn’t show up. They said it was security concerns, but at the same time he was shopping in Kikar Hamedina.”
So let’s recap.
According to Roger Waters, he moved the concert to Neve Shalom as a noble gesture for peace. According to the man who actually organized the concert, Waters had no idea what Neve Shalom was and showed little interest in learning anything about Israel beyond where to find an expensive meal and a good shopping district.
A fraud then and a fraud now.
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