German TV pulls plug on Roger Waters concert due to antisemitism
Roger Waters publicly supports BDS and is widely known for his anti-Israel views.
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALUpdated: NOVEMBER 27, 2017 11:34Nick Cave, Roger Waters war over BDS, Israel (i24 News)
The German public television outlet WDR canceled its slated cooperation concert with the former Pink Floyd band member Roger Waters on Saturday because of a wave of protest against the singer’s anti-Jewish views.Malca Goldstein-Wolf launched a petition campaign to prevent WDR from using taxpayer money to fund a “Jew-hater.”She said the chairman of the Cologne-based TV outlet Tom Buhrow is allowing the spread of antisemitism by televising Waters, who is an energetic supporter of the BDS campaign, which targets Israel and has used antisemitic imagery at his concerts.Buhrow responded in a Facebook post to Goldstein-Wolf on Saturday, writing “I sense that not many words and arguments will convince you, rather only clear action. The cooperation with the concert was ended.”Goldstein-Wolf’s online petition titled “No support for the antisemite Roger Walters with public funds of the WDR” garnered nearly 1,400 signatures.Waters’ show, entitled “Us and Them,” was slated to take place on June 11, 2018, at Cologne’s Lanxess Arena.Goldstein-Wolf also referenced a WDR scandal in the petition, where the TV station initially refused to air a documentary film about contemporary antisemitism in Europe, as further evidence that WDR is largely clueless about modern Jew-hatred in Europe.WDR initially sought to censor the documentary Chosen and Excluded – The Hate for Jews, which it commissioned, but public pressure compelled the news organization to show the film.WDR took another round of criticisms for providing faulty fact checks for the documentary, according to antisemitism experts in Germany, during the film’s airing.According to experts and commentators in the field of studying antisemitism, Chosen and Excluded – The Hate for Jews is widely considered the most important documentary on all forms of antisemitism, including Islamic-animated and BDS sponsored.