Former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters called philanthropist and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson a “puppet master” and Zionism “an ugly stain” in a June 20 interview with a Hamas-affiliated television network.
According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Waters told Shehab News Agency, “Sheldon Adelson, who is the puppet master pulling the strings of Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo and what’s his name … the ambassador [to Israel], Greenberg [sic] I think his name is. Sheldon Adelson is the puppet master pulling all of the strings. And Sheldon Adelson is a right-wing fascist, racist bigot who doesn’t understand the first thing about the idea that human beings might have rights.”
The United States Ambassador to Israel is David Friedman. Waters went on to accuse Adelson of believing that Jews are superior to all other human beings.
“He has this strange – he thinks – biblical construct in his head, that somehow everything will be all right in the world if there is a Greater Israel, which takes up the whole historic Palestine and the Kingdom of Jordan — puts it all together and calls it Israel and gives it only to the Chosen People,” Waters said. “He is crazy.”
The musician then accused the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) of creating the knee-to-neck technique Officer Derek Chauvin used on George Floyd on May 25; Floyd later died after claiming he couldn’t breathe.
“That is an Israeli technique, taught to the militarized police forces of the U.S.A. by Israeli experts, who the Americans have been flying over to the United States to teach them how to murder the Blacks because they have seen how efficient the Israelis have been at murdering Palestinians in the occupied territories by using those techniques,” Waters said. “And they are proud of it. They are proud of it. The Israelis are proud of it.”
Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld tweeted on June 9 that Israeli law enforcement has never used the knee-to-neck technique and has never taught the technique in any training programs with senior law enforcement officers from other countries.
Waters added, “Zionism is an ugly stain, and it needs to be gently removed by us.”
Various people on Twitter criticized Waters’ remarks as being anti-Semitic.
“Roger Waters, notorious for anti-Israel obsession and teaming up with antisemites around the world has done it again,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Twitter account tweeted. “This time on a Hamas-affiliated news network, Waters spreads anti-Semitic tropes and falsely accuses Israelis of training US police to ‘murder blacks in America.’ ”
“Crazy @rogerwaters continues to drag the reputation of @pinkfloyd through the mud with an insane rant on Hamas-terrorist affiliated TV,” StandWithUs Israel executive director Michael Dickson tweeted.
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt similarly told the Jewish Chronicle, “Waters’ comments mirror a number of classic and vile anti-Semitic stereotypes … . It’s highly unfortunate to see an individual whose early life was marked by important contributions to the world of music continue to devolve into a discredited propagator of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.”
Associate dean and director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Abraham Cooper told the Journal in a phone interview that he was amazed at how many anti-Semitic tropes Waters squeezed into one interview, and called Waters’ “Zionism is an ugly stain” remarks “Nazi-like terminology.”
“We have every right to protest and see to it that he’s barred from every venue in the free world,” Cooper said. “Someone who goes around spouting that kind of hatred against a people, a nation, has no place in center stage of our culture.”
Creative Community for Peace director Ari Ingel similarly said in a statement to the Journal, “It is disturbing to see Roger Waters continue his cynical efforts to delegitimize the state of Israel by spreading incendiary lies about the country. Stating that Israel invented kneeling on someone’s neck as a police technique is not just outrageous but also dangerous, as is his claim that a wealthy Jew is pulling the world’s strings, which plays on the age-old anti-Semitic trope right out of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It is not surprising that he made these comments in an interview with a Hamas-affiliated TV network, as Hamas also calls for the destruction of Israel and is a United States and western designated terrorist organization.”
Israellycool blogger David Lange called Waters’ June 20 remarks his “craziest anti-Semitic rant ever.”
Waters is an ardent proponent of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. He has responded to accusations of anti-Semitism through pointing out that his daughter-in-law is Jewish and that he’s only criticizing the Israeli government.
Read this article on Jewish Journal here.
June 17, 2020
Comedian Chelsea Handler posted and then deleted a video of Louis Farrakhan on Instagram this week — but only after two days of doubling down amid a wave of criticism.
Before Handler deleted the video, it had reportedly been shared and liked by a wide range of other Hollywood celebrities, despite Farrakhan’s well-documented history of virulent antisemitism and homophobia.
Handler, who has close to four million followers on Instagram, posted the 10-minute video of Farrakhan on a 1990 talk show on Sunday, calling it “powerful.” Handler, who is Jewish, at first doubled down on her decision to post the video even when called out by commenters. “Perhaps Farrakhan’s anti-Semitic views took form during his own oppression,” she added in a comment. Responding to one person who asked if she would post a video of a message she agreed with from Adolf Hitler, Handler wrote: “no, because Hitler was responsible for killing millions of lives. Farrakhan is just responsible for his own promotion of anti-Semitic beliefs. They are very different.” Handler did not offer any public explanation for deleting the video.
Farrakhan has long compared Jews to termites, called them Satanic and accused Jews of controlling the slave trade, Hollywood, the banks and the media. And while Handler’s post drew negative attention in some media outlets, few celebrity voices publicly called her out for sharing the video.
Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly tweeted that it was “stunning” to see how many celebrities “are either too stupid to know what Farrakhan has said publicly about Jews or — worse — do not care.” Actor Josh Malina issued a “Friendly reminder: Louis Farrakhan is a virulent jew-hater. He is trash. Don’t tweet out his greatest hits.”
Ari Ingel, director of the nonprofit Creative Community For Peace, which works to counter antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment in the entertainment industry, told Jewish Insider that he wasn’t shocked by the radio silence.
“It’s not surprising other celebrities didn’t speak out against the post,” said Ingel. “Unfortunately, many Jews in Hollywood and in the entertainment industry have a long history of not speaking up about antisemitism.”
Ingel suggested that the silence “has to do with the traumatic past Jewish people have been through, and many try to simply blend in and assimilate in America. They don’t want to make waves when it comes to their own community, even though they are usually very vocal in defending the rights of other minority groups.”
Israeli actress Noa Tishby told JI it was “disheartening” that more celebrities had not spoken out against Handler’s decision to share the video.
“One can not be against one form of racism or discrimination and not another,” Tishby added. “If we stand against hate, we stand against all hate, not just some of it.” Nobody would quote Stalin or Hitler or Mussolini’s “inspirational moments” today, Tishby said, and suggest they be “given a pass” on their other actions. “I think Chelsea Handler should take a good look at this guy, and take the appropriate actions,” she said. “He can not be accepted into the mainstream.”
Handler’s post came less than a week after the rapper Ice Cube tweeted a series of antisemitic posts to his 5.4 million followers, including praise of Farrakhan. He, too, faced little pushback from mainstream Hollywood voices.
“It’s disturbing to see a cultural icon who is such a powerful voice for social justice in the black community fail to understand the impact his words and the images he shares have on the Jewish community,” Ingel said of the rapper. “We stand with the black community in their fight for justice and change in America, but fighting racism with antisemitism is unacceptable.”
Ingel said that CCFP “has been in touch with members of his team,” but “as Ice Cube has clarified on social media, he stands by his posts, which is unfortunate.”
You can read the article on Jewish Insider here.
Actress Chelsea Handler shared a video of Louis Farrakhan discussing racism on her Instagram page on June 14 and called it “powerful.”
The video is a clip of the nation of Islam leader taking questions from the audience during an appearance on “The Phil Donahue Show” on an unspecified date. During the clip, Farrakhan discusses issues of racism and white supremacy.
“I learned a lot from watching this powerful video,” Handler wrote on her Instagram page.
One Instagram user responded in the comments section, “Based on this logic, if you find a video of Hitler saying something positive and powerful, will you feel equally compelled to share it? You gave hate credibility and a large platform today.”
In the comments section, Handler defended posting the video.
“Hitler was responsible for killing millions of lives,” she replied. “Farrakhan is just responsible for his own promotion of anti-Semitic beliefs. They are very different.”
Another commenter praised Handler for posting the video, stating: “Truth is truth, regardless of who it comes from and whether you like them.”
Handler responded, “Agreed. The message should stand alone.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Center condemned Handler for posting the video.
“@chelseahandler what exactly were you + other Americans supposed to learn from a leader who is a life-long anti-Semite who called Hitler a great man who refers to Jews as insects who spews hatred of LGBTQ people, whose Research Group luridly links Israel to deadly Coronavirus?” the Jewish group tweeted.
Creative Community for Peace co-founder David Renzer similarly said in a statement to the Journal, “While CCFP supports the Black community in their efforts, it is important that we not confuse the message with the messenger. In a time of rising anti-Semitism, unless and until Minister Farrakhan completely disavows himself from his previous anti-Semitic comments, he remains a problematic figure who should cause entertainers to hesitate before looking to him for inspiration.”
Writer Hazel Cills noted on the feminist website Jezebel that actor Sean Hayes and actress Lisa Rinna also praised the video, and that actress Jessica Chastain may have posted it to her Instagram page before deleting it.
“While he has denied being anti-Semitic, Farrakhan has previously called Judaism a ‘gutter religion,’ has referred to Adolf Hitler as a ‘great man,’ and has spoken about ‘powerful’ and ‘Satanic’ Jews as being his enemy, among many other statements condemning Jewish people,” Cills wrote.
She later added: “I know many celebrities right now are desperately trying to prove they have an activist streak, but hopefully they can do a little research before they post things to social media. It must be so hard not having a manager around to help you Google things!”
Read the entire article on Jewish Journal here.