RSS
Pink Floyd Co-Founder Roger Waters Defamed Jewish Filmmaker and Journalist, UK Judge Rules

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters speaks during an interview with Reuters in London, Britain, July 1, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Suzanne Plunkett
A judge in the United Kingdom ruled on Tuesday that Pink Floyd co-founder and former lead singer Roger Waters defamed a Jewish British film producer and investigative journalist.
The High Court in London rejected Waters’ argument that his assertions targeting John Ware were his honest opinions about Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip and not a statement of fact. Justice Jennifer Eady ruled that Waters made inflammatory statements that he tried to pass as fact, making them defamatory. Eady’s ruling reportedly means the defense will have to settle or the lawsuit will advance to trial.
“The statements are defamatory of the claimant at common law,” Eady wrote in her ruling. “Although I would accept that the first defendant’s reference to a ‘genocide’ expressed his opinion as to what was happening as a result of the actions of Israeli forces in Gaza (to which he had already referred), in stating that the claimant positively supported that ‘genocide,’ I find he was making a statement of fact.”
Ware, who produced and presented the documentary “The Dark Side of Roger Waters,” sued the singer and the Qatar-based Al Jazeera media network for defamation. He filed the lawsuit after Rogers claimed that Ware was a “lying, conniving Zionist mouthpiece” and accused him of “cheerleading the genocide of Palestinians” during an interview on the Al Jazeera show “The Stream.” Rogers also described Ware as a “pro-Zionist, pro-genocider.”
“The Dark Side of Roger Waters” highlighted various incidents in which the musician displayed antisemitic behavior toward not only individual Jewish people but also the Jewish community at large, including in previously unrevealed e-mails. It featured several interviews with people close to Waters, including his saxophonist Norbert Statchel and Bob Ezrin, the producer of Pink Floyd’s album “The Wall.”
The documentary was released in October 2023 on YouTube by the UK-based advocacy group Campaign Against Antisemitism. Waters previously criticized the film in a lengthy statement on his website. He called it “a flimsy, unapologetic piece of propaganda that indiscriminately mixes things I’m alleged to have said or done at different times and in different contexts, in an effort to portray me as an antisemite, without any foundation in fact.” In the same statement he denied being an antisemite, echoing a claim he has made several times throughout his career.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism commented on Eady’s ruling in a released statement.
“We welcome this judgment on the meaning of Roger Waters’ nonsense rant following John Ware’s production of our documentary, “The Dark Side of Roger Waters,” exposing Mr. Waters’ history of inflammatory conduct towards Jewish people,” the statement read.
“Those who claim that someone alleging antisemitism is just a ‘cheerleader for genocide’ are just spouting a modernized version of the trope that those who allege antisemitism are merely trying to silence criticism of Israel,” the spokesperson added. “[Former leader of the British Labour Party] Jeremy Corbyn tried it, and it doesn’t hold water. It’s a line long used by people like Mr. Waters, and it is high time that he faces repercussions for his big mouth and long history of Jew baiting.”
Rogers has been regularly accused of antisemitism, including by his former bandmate David Gilmour and Polly Samson, a lyricist for Pink Floyd and Gilmour’s wife. He is an avid supporter of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, has repeatedly accused Israel of genocide and apartheid, and has compared the Jewish state to Nazi Germany.
Rogers has also called Israel “extremely evil” and promoted antisemitic tropes about Jewish power. He defended Hamas for orchestrating the deadly massacre in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and claimed there is “no evidence” that the terrorists sexually assaulted their victims, despite widespread evidence proving systematic sexual violence, including testimonies from former hostages kidnapped by Hamas.
The musician and anti-Israel activist has performed on stage wearing a swastika-like badge, used sets that included giant inflatable pigs emblazoned with a Star of David, and featured inappropriate Holocaust-related imagery in his shows.
The post Pink Floyd Co-Founder Roger Waters Defamed Jewish Filmmaker and Journalist, UK Judge Rules first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Kurdish-led SDF Say Five Members Killed During Attack by Islamic State in Syria

Islamic State slogans painted along the walls of the tunnel was used by Islamic State militants as an underground training camp in the hillside overlooking Mosul, Iraq, March 4, 2017. Photo: via Reuters Connect.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said on Sunday that five of its members had been killed during an attack by Islamic State militants on a checkpoint in eastern Syria’s Deir el-Zor on July 31.
The SDF was the main fighting force allied to the United States in Syria during fighting that defeated Islamic State in 2019 after the group declared a caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq.
The Islamic State has been trying to stage a comeback in the Middle East, the West and Asia. Deir el-Zor city was captured by Islamic State in 2014, but the Syrian army retook it in 2017.
RSS
Armed Groups Attack Security Force Personnel in Syria’s Sweida, Killing One, State TV Reports

People ride a motorcycle past a burned-out military vehicle, following deadly clashes between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes, and government forces, in Syria’s predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Armed groups attacked personnel from Syria’s internal security forces in Sweida, killing one member and wounding others, and fired shells at several villages in the violence-hit southern province, state-run Ekhbariya TV reported on Sunday.
The report cited a security source as saying the armed groups had violated the ceasefire agreed in the predominantly Druze region, where factional bloodshed killed hundreds of people last month.
Violence in Sweida erupted on July 13 between tribal fighters and Druze factions. Government forces were sent to quell the fighting, but the bloodshed worsened, and Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops in the name of the Druze.
The Druze are a minority offshoot of Islam with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Sweida province is predominantly Druze but is also home to Sunni tribes, and the communities have had long-standing tensions over land and other resources.
A US-brokered truce ended the fighting, which had raged in Sweida city and surrounding towns for nearly a week. Syria said it would investigate the clashes, setting up a committee to investigate the attacks.
The Sweida bloodshed last month was a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, after a wave of sectarian violence in March that killed hundreds of Alawite citizens in the coastal region.
RSS
Netanyahu Urges Red Cross to Aid Gaza Hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he spoke with the International Red Cross’s regional head, Julien Lerisson, and requested his involvement in providing food and medical care to hostages held in Gaza.