Exclusive: Roger Waters on Israeli backlash for supporting Palestinians

English singer-songwriter Roger Waters has accused influential Israeli lobbies of unsuccessfully trying to scuttle his tour of Latin America for his vocal support for Palestinians in the latest conflagration with Israel that has sparked a humanitarian crisis in besieged Gaza.

In an exclusive interview with TRT World in Chile's capital, Santiago, the co-founder of the iconic music group Pink Floyd, spoke extensively about the smear campaign by the Israeli lobbies, which targeted him for speaking out against Israel's brutality against Palestinians.

Waters is among a growing number of celebrities who are speaking out against the largescale human rights violations by Israel and its "collective punishment" of Gaza residents in response to the Hamas attacks on October 7.

"…You can't possibly put yourself in that position, in their position. Those mothers and fathers, those children, those 2.3 million, well a bit less now, people living in Gaza being bombarded by F-16s day and night, week after week after week," he says.

"One cannot even begin to imagine what it must be like and that it's (the Israeli assault) being cheered on by the most powerful empire in the world is disgusting beyond all belief."

The 80-year-old Brit says that during the Argentine tour – titled 'This Is Not a Drill — the Israeli lobbies had managed to "co-opt all the hotels in Buenos Aires and Montevideo and organised this extraordinary boycott based on malicious lies".

"My heart and my brain are so full of all the political as well as humanitarian machinations of the Gaza question, on the Palestine question right now that I find it difficult to escape from it and all the bull**** that I'm experiencing in South America with them trying to cancel my show," he adds.

The indiscriminate Israeli aggression has killed over 15,000 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and 4,000 women. The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200 since October 7.

"They just tried to cancel my show…here in Santiago, in Chile, where I know I'm enormously popular, not just because the shows are sold out," Waters adds.

During his time in the region, Waters reportedly had to stay in Brazil's financial capital, Sao Paulo, according to the local daily, Pagina/12, after being told there was no room available in Argentina.

Waters has insisted that the fierce criticism is due to his defence of Palestinian rights amid the recent onslaught on Gaza.

During a recent musical performance in Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, while on stage, Waters told the crowd gathered that he was being silenced because he believes in human rights .

In Argentina, Lawyer Carlos Broitman told AFP that he had filed a complaint against Waters at a federal court on claims of spreading hate.

In Uruguay, a centre-right lawmaker, Felipe Schipani, called on the left-wing Montevideo government to remove the title of Distinguished Visitor to Waters that was first given to Waters in 2018.

"They (the Israeli lobbies) were in Buenos Aires as well…tried to get my shows in Buenos Aires cancelled on the grounds that I'm an anti-Semite, which I'm not, obviously! It's such outright nonsense," says Roger.

In Uruguay, Roger also faced backlash from officials at the Central Israelite Committee and the Jewish NGO B'Nai B'rith, claiming he had spread hatred against the Jewish people.

"And yet they still make up stories and then amplify and then print them again and again and again and again and again and again. And I know we're not allowed to say it, but it's right out of Goebbels' playbook – the bigger the lie, the more likely people are to believe that's what these stupid a**holes have been doing against me," Waters says.

The hotels in Montevideo reportedly declined to comment on Waters' claims.

In the wake of strong Israeli condemnation, the Latin American Confederation of Workers said it made a number of its hotels available to Roger and band members amid what it describes as its international solidarity and defence of human rights.

While in Uruguay, Waters met with the former leftist President of the country, Jose Mujica.

Amid the ongoing Palestinian dispossession, Waters, who is one of the highest-grossing touring musicians, has publicly boycotted Israel, which has illegally occupied the West Bank since 1967.

During his Latin America tour, Waters also met with officials from Club Deportivo Palestino, a soccer club founded by Chile's Palestinian diaspora, posing for photos alongside several officials.

On Instagram the club thanked Walters for his solidarity with Palestine and for giving the community a voice.