Antisemitism is a “smear sword wielded at behest of the Israeli Government”, according to Roger Waters

Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd musician with a history of inflammatory comments about antisemitism, has again waded into controversy with a remark that antisemitism is “smear sword wielded at behest of the Israeli Government”.

Mr Waters made the comment during an appearance on a monthly online talk show called Let’s Talk It Over, with record producer Brian Eno adding that accusations of antisemitism on the political Left are “worthless” and intended to silence those who “question what is happening in Palestine”.

During the discussion, Mr Eno reportedly defended three prominent figures in the antisemitism debate of recent years, saying: “When you see people like Ken Loach, David Miller, Jackie Walker, when you see those people being accused of antisemitism, you cannot help but say this is all made up.”

Mr Eno added: “We know there are a lot of antisemites in the world, and we know that generally they’d don’t come from the left of the political spectrum. Why aren’t they being attacked? We are being called the enemy for some other reason than antisemitism, and of course it is transparently clear that we are being called the enemy because we question what is happening in Palestine. That is all you have to do to be called antisemitic.”

Mr Waters said: “The antisemitism smear sword that was wielded at the behest of the Israeli government, specifically aimed at Jeremy Corbyn because he was left wing and he might turn into a political leader on the left in the United Kingdom who would actually stand up for human rights in general but specifically the rights of working people to represent themselves and have unions.”

Image credit: Harry’s Place