Promoter calls Roger Waters hypocrite over boycott plea

Israel boycott cheerleader Roger Waters joined a group of anti-Israel artists in urging Grammy-winning electronic duo The Chemical Brothers to cancel their upcoming November 12 concert in Tel Aviv.

Known for pioneering the big beat genre in pop music, The Chemical Brothers formed in 1989, and are coming to Israel after a round of major festivals worldwide. They’re accompanied by Belgian band 2MANYDJS, and local DJs Shlomi Zidan and Ofri Goffer, who will perform before, during and after The Chemical Brothers.

Waters, a co-founder of Pink Floyd, signed a letter under the banner of the Artists for Palestine UK group, asking the two band members, Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands, to cancel their show. The Chemical Brothers last performed in Israel in 1998, at Latrun.

“Tel Aviv’s hipster vibe is a bubble on the surface of a very deep security state that drove out half the indigenous Palestinian population in 1948 and has no intention of letting their descendants back in,” read the October 18 letter addressed to The Chemical Brothers.

Concert promoter Shuki Weiss responded strongly, publicizing his strongly worded letter in the Israeli press and on Facebook.

“Roger Waters — you are such a hypocrite,” he wrote. “It wasn’t too long ago that you played a show here with us in Israel. A very lucrative show for you, as we recall. And so it seems odd to see you call on the Chemical Brothers to cancel their show here, thereby denying them the rights that you allowed yourself:

the right to meet their fans here
the right to share their music with them
and of course, the right to make a living as a musician touring the world with a message
and the right to educate oneself along this touring path – to see the world through your own eyes rather than be brainwashed by propaganda from all sides.”

“Yes, ‘Tel Aviv’s hipster vibe is a bubble,'” wrote Weiss. “One of sanity, love, intellect, compassion, and community. Quite similar perhaps to what New York may be in Trump’s America in a few weeks. And similar to Long Island, it was built on the remains of generations of communities (or perhaps “tribes”?) that once lived here.”

Weiss concluded the letter by asking Waters whether he lives in Long Island, and whether he would continue to play in New York if Donald Trump is elected president and builds a wall around Mexico, as the presidential candidate has threatened.

Tickets for The Chemical Brothers start at NIS 239 for the concert on Saturday night, November 12, in Tel Aviv’s fairgrounds.