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US State Department calls recent Roger Waters concert ‘antisemitic’
(JTA) — The U.S. State Department has condemned Roger Waters, calling the former Pink Floyd frontman’s recent concert in Berlin “antisemitic.”
A reporter asked at a press briefing on Monday whether the department agreed with recent comments from Deborah Lipstadt, the department’s envoy for combatting antisemitism, who tweeted criticism of Waters.
“The concert in question, which took place in Berlin, contained imagery that is deeply offensive to Jewish people and minimized the Holocaust,” the department wrote in a response to the question on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. “The artist in question has a long track record of using antisemitic tropes to denigrate Jewish people.”
Waters is a leader in the call to culturally boycott Israel, often promoting the cause of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS. Jewish leaders around the world have long said his harsh criticism of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians crosses the line into antisemitism.
Waters incorporates his Israel criticism and other political views into his live shows, which have in the past included a large pig-shaped balloon with images of dollar signs, the Star of David or the logo of an Israeli armaments firm. His stances have incurred blowback in the past, but on his current tour, he has enraged critics by juxtaposing the names of Holocaust victim Anne Frank and Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian journalist killed in an Israeli military raid last year, on the screen at his performances.
The municipalities of Frankfurt and Munich unsuccessfully attempted to have Waters’ concerts in their cities canceled. Groups of protesters, in some cases involving local Jewish leaders and politicians, have shown up outside his concert venues. At the Frankfurt show, one protester stormed the stage with an Israeli flag.
Since last month, German police have been investigating whether a costume that Waters has worn for years at concerts, which resembles a Nazi officer’s uniform, constitutes Nazi glorification, which is outlawed in Germany.
Katharina von Schnurbein, the European Union’s antisemitism envoy, who is German, tweeted late last month that she was “sick & disgusted by Roger Waters’ obsession to belittle and trivialize the Shoah & the sarcastic way in which he delights in trampling on the victims, systematically murdered by the Nazis.” Waters has in the past compared Israel to Nazi Germany.
Lipstadt replied, writing that she “wholeheartedly” agreed with von Schnurbein’s take.
Waters had responded to the accusations about his costume, which includes a long black coat and a red armband, in a statement to social media.
“[T]he elements of my performance that have been questioned are quite clearly a statement in opposition to fascism, injustice, and bigotry in all its forms,” he wrote.
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The post US State Department calls recent Roger Waters concert ‘antisemitic’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Exclusive: Israeli Officials Harshly Critical of Steve Witkoff’s Influence on US Policy on Gaza, Iran, i24NEWS Told
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
i24 News – Amid growing disagreements with the Trump administration over the composition of the Board of Peace for Gaza and the question of a strike on Iran, officials in Israel point to a key figure behind decisions seen as running counter to Israeli interests: Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The officials mention sustained dissatisfaction with Witkoff. Sources close to the PM Netanyahu told i24NEWS on Saturday evening: “For several months now, the feeling has been that envoy Steve Witkoff has strong ties, for his own reasons, across the Middle East, and that at times the Israeli interest does not truly prevail in his decision-making.”
This criticism relates both to the proposed inclusion of Turkey and Qatar in Gaza’s governing bodies and to the Iranian threat. A senior Israeli official put it bluntly: “If it turns out that he is among those blocking a strike on Iran, that is far more than a coincidence.”
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EU Warns of Downward Spiral After Trump Threatens Tariffs Over Greenland
European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on June 17, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Yves Herman
European Union leaders on Saturday warned of a “dangerous downward spiral” over US President Donald Trump‘s vow to implement increasing tariffs on European allies until the US is allowed to buy Greenland.
“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Antonio Costa said in posts on X.
The bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said tariffs would hurt prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic, while distracting the EU from its “core task” of ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“China and Russia must be having a field day. They are the ones who benefit from divisions among allies,” Kallas said on X.
“Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity. If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO.”
Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries will convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting to discuss their response to the tariff threat.
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Israel Says US Gaza Executive Board Composition Against Its Policy
FILE PHOTO: Displaced Palestinians shelter at a tent camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer/File Photo
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that this week’s Trump administration announcement on the composition of a Gaza executive board was not coordinated with Israel and ran counter to government policy.
It said Foreign Minister Gideon Saar would raise the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The statement did not specify what part of the board’s composition contradicted Israeli policy. An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment.
The board, unveiled by the White House on Friday, includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Israel has repeatedly opposed any Turkish role in Gaza.
Other members of the executive board include Sigrid Kaag, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process; an Israeli‑Cypriot billionaire; and a minister from the United Arab Emirates, which established relations with Israel in 2020.
Washington this week also announced the start of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s plan, announced in September, to end the war in Gaza. This includes creating a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in the enclave.
The first members of the so-called Board of Peace – to be chaired by Trump and tasked with supervising Gaza’s temporary governance – were also named. Members include Rubio, billionaire developer Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.