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Roger Waters Calls Israel ‘Extremely Evil,’ Pushes Antisemitic Tropes While Denying He’s Antisemitic
Former Pink Floyd vocalist Roger Waters on stage in Italy. Photo: Reuters/Mirko Fava
Former Pink Floyd lead singer Roger Waters made a slew of anti-Israel remarks, promoted antisemitic tropes about Jewish power, and made inappropriate Holocaust comparisons in a new interview with Turkey’s TRT World published on Wednesday.
Waters’ interview with TRT World presenter Paul Salvatori focused on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war raging in the Gaza Strip and was conducted ahead of the one-year anniversary of the deadly Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that started the conflict. Salvatori began by asking the British musician to reflect on how he has changed in the last year, since the launch of the Israel-Hamas war.
“I wake up desperately disturbed every morning,” Rogers replied, before talking about wanting to fight against the “evil” in the world including Israel, of which he has been a longtime critic.
“Supremacy of all kinds is the key to understanding why people behave in these extremely evil ways, like the Israelis have done for the last 75 years and are continuing to do so with the support of the American empire including my country, the United Kingdom, which is part of the American empire,” he said. “And it’s deeply, deeply depressing to me.”
Waters said Israel “pretends” to believe in human rights and freedom of speech, just like the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Holland “and all the rest of them.” He added that US and UK leaders — such as US President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former US President Donald Trump, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and current British Prime Minister Keir Stamer — “represent pure evil.”
The ex-Pink Floyd vocalist additionally expressed support for anti-Israel protesters on college and university campuses, specifically the “brave students” at Columbia University, who are protesting against Israel’s “genocide.” He compared efforts to stop these anti-Israel campus protests to the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police during World War II, and promoted antisemitic tropes about an “Israeli lobby.”
“What is incredible is how lots of our brothers and sisters in the student movement all over the world, but particularly where I live in the United States, the students at Columbia University in New York for instance, decided to protest the genocide,” Waters said. “They’re saying there’s a genocide going on … so we’re going to occupy lawns and maybe even a hall somewhere in Columbia. They [the Israeli lobby] sent the Gestapo in to beat them up … the a–holes at the top of Columbia University who are trying to bolster the Gestapo to come in and beat anybody up who wants to stand up for the love of our brothers and sisters and for truth.”
“When that happened we thought, ‘Oh my goodness. Here it is, in front of our very eyes, how much that system has been imposed by the Israeli lobby — by AIPAC [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee] and the ADL [Anti-Defamation League] and all those, in my view, misguided religious supremacists,” Rogers added. “You can see it’s endemic in the whole of the political system of the United States of America and that is terrifying because the United States of America is the most terrifying henchmen at the moment.”
The musician also talked about an Israeli “lobby” trying to cancel his concerts in Europe last year as part of his “This Is Not a Drill” tour. However, he did not explain that local politicians, city councils, and Jewish groups pushed for the cancellation of several concerts because of his remarks and behavior, which include supporting the boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel; pressuring other musicians not to perform in Israel; and his use of antisemitic and Holocaust-related imagery and content in past concerts, such as a balloon shaped like a pig and that was embossed with a Star of David.
Rogers ended his interview with TRT World by again claiming, as he has done numerous times in the past, that he is not an antisemite. “Never was, never will be,” he said. “Not an antisemitic thought ever in my whole life. What I am is somebody who fights for human rights and that is what they cannot allow.”
When asked if musicians like himself should be more vocal in condemning Israel’s “genocidal assault” in Gaza during its ongoing war against Hamas terrorists controlling the enclave, Rogers replied: “Yeah, of course they should. But obviously, it’s not just musicians. Everybody should. Anybody who has a heart.”
Last year, an explosive documentary showed fellow musicians detailing Waters’ long record of anti-Jewish barbs. In one instance, a former colleague recalled Waters at a restaurant yelling at the wait staff to “take away the Jew food.”
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Tourists Stranded in Israel as Sirens Sound, Missiles Fly, Planes Grounded
FILE PHOTO: A worker at Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel sits at the arrivals terminal as all flights from and to the airport are indicated cancel, following an Israeli attack on Iran. June 13, 2025 Photo: REUTERS/Tomer Appelbaum
Woken by air raid sirens, hurrying to bomb shelters, scouring travel sites for escape routes — thousands of tourists in Israel have found their holiday plans upended by the country’s conflict with Iran.
Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran in the early hours of Friday, shutting down the national airspace and telling people to remain where they were as the arch Middle East foes traded deadly blows.
The violence has left around 40,000 tourists blocked in Israel, according to the Ministry of Tourism. Airlines are cancelling flights until further notice, leaving travelers to decide whether to wait it out or seek costly detours through neighboring countries.
Justin Joyner, from California, is on holiday in Jerusalem with his father John, who lives in Nevada, and his son. They had expected some possible disruption, with Israel locked in a months-long conflict against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
But, like most locals, they did not foresee a whole new war.
“We didn’t expect Israel to attack Iran. That is a completely different level of escalation,” Joyner said from his hotel in East Jerusalem, which, for the past two nights, has seen Iranian ballistic missiles flash overhead like a rain of meteorites.
“It’s unsettling to feel the shockwaves of intercepted missiles above you, and to take your family down to a bomb shelter. That’s just something we don’t think about in America,” he said.
Dr. Greer Glazer, who lives in Cleveland and was in Jerusalem for a nursing training program, faces a race down 10 flights of stairs in her hotel to reach the shelter when sirens sound — as they have done regularly since Friday night.
“I feel safe,” she said, “but waking from a dead sleep and running to the safe room, that’s been the hardest. My family is scared to death … They think it’s 24/7 destruction, but it’s not like that.”
THE JORDAN ROUTE
Glazer had been due to return home on June 29, but is looking to bring forward her departure. The easiest exit route is via land crossings into neighboring Jordan and then a flight out of Amman airport which has been operating in daylight hours.
Israeli media reported that the transgender US influencer Caitlyn Jenner, who only flew into Israel on Thursday for Tel Aviv’s since-canceled Gay Pride Parade, had left through Jordan.
Hours earlier, she had been photographed drinking a glass of red wine in a bomb shelter. “What an incredible way it has been to celebrate Shabbat,” she wrote on X.
Not everyone is rushing to leave.
Karen Tuhrim is visiting from London to see her daughter, who lives in Tel Aviv. “Within two days of being here, Israel attacked Iran. So now I’m stuck,” she said.
Unlike Jerusalem, Tel Aviv has taken direct hits from the Iranian missiles and Tuhrim has had to dip in and out of her hotel’s shelter. But she said she felt safe and was happy to be near her daughter.
“For me, personally, at the moment, I feel better being here than in London, watching it all on the news, knowing my daughter is here. So, for now, we’re good.”
Israel’s Ministry of Tourism has set up a round-the-clock virtual help desk in English and Hebrew for stranded travelers.
But for anyone stuck here, all the museums are closed until further notice, entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem is barred to non-residents and many shops remain shuttered.
“The streets and shops are empty,” said Jerusalem resident Anwar Abu Lafi, who saw no quick end to the gloom.
“People are yearning for a break, to find something good in this existing darkness. We are deluding ourselves into thinking that the future will be better,” he said.
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4 Killed by Missile in Arab Town of Tamra, Including a Mother and Her Two Daughters
Illustrative: A Magen David Adom ambulance. Photo: David King via Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – In the early hours of Sunday morning, the Arab town of Tamra in northern Israel was struck by an Iranian missile, tragically claiming the lives of four women from the same family, including a mother and her two daughters, aged 13 and 20.
The missile caused severe damage, nearly collapsing the three- to four-story building where they lived.
Emergency services responded quickly, evacuating 14 injured individuals and providing care for eight others suffering from shock at Rambam Hospital in Haifa.
Despite the devastation, the community and first responders showed remarkable resilience and solidarity, working tirelessly to assist those affected.
Eli Bin, director general of Magen David Adom, described the scene as one of severe destruction but praised the swift and professional response of rescue teams. Paramedic Adnan Abu Rumi, one of the first on site, emphasized the dedication of emergency personnel in managing the crisis.
Residents like Hamudi, who was injured but survived, shared heartfelt accounts of the sudden impact, underscoring the strength of families and neighbors coming together in difficult times.
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Trump Sees Peace Between Iran and Israel Soon, Eyes Putin Role
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Photo: Reuters/Maxim Shemetov
Despite evidence that the conflict between Israel and Iran is escalating, US President Donald Trump expressed optimism on Sunday that peace would come soon and cited the possibility that Russia’s Vladimir Putin could help.
In a social media post, Trump said there were many unspecified meetings about the issue happening and encouraged the two countries to make a deal. And in an interview with ABC News, he said he was open to Putin, whose forces invaded Ukraine and who has resisted Trump’s attempts to broker a ceasefire with Kyiv, serving as a mediator.
Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, killing scores.
“Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site. “We will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran! Many calls and meetings now taking place.”
Trump did not offer any details about the meetings or evidence of progress toward peace. His assertion contradicted comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Saturday that Israel’s campaign against Iran would intensify.
A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how Trump and the White House were working to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East.
Trump told ABC News that Iran wanted to make a deal and indicated something like the Israel strikes would accelerate that. “Something like this had to happen because I think even from both sides, but something like this had to happen. They want to talk, and they will be talking,” Trump said, according to ABC reporter Rachel Scott. “May have forced a deal to go quicker, actually.”
The United States has engaged in talks with Iran about its nuclear program and Trump has told reporters previously that the talks were going well. But another round of discussions scheduled for Sunday in Oman was canceled after the Israeli and Iranian strikes.
Trump said he and Putin had discussed the situation in the Middle East on Saturday in a call that focused more on that conflict than the Russian war in Ukraine.
“He is ready. He called me about it,” Trump said about Putin serving as a mediator, according to Scott. “We had a long talk about it. We talked about this more than his situation. This is something I believe is going to get resolved.”
Trump, who portrays himself as a peacemaker and has drawn criticism from his political base for not being able to prevent the Israel-Iran conflict, cited other disputes that he took responsibility for solving, including between India and Pakistan, and lamented not receiving more praise for doing so.
“I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that’s OK, the PEOPLE understand. MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!” he wrote on Truth Social.
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