Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna
Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters has officially condemned the Chemical Brothers’ upcoming performance in Tel Aviv. He signed onto letter from Artists for Palestine UK urging the electronic legends to cancel their concert in solidarity with cultural boycott efforts.
Other signees of the letter include playwright Caryl Churchill, poet Liz Lochhead, and actress Maxine Peake. The letter strongly pushes against the Chemical Brothers’ scheduled tour date.
“Tel Aviv’s hipster vibe is a bubble on the surface of a very deep security state that drove out half the indigenous Palestinian population in 1948 and has no intention of letting their descendants back in,” the letter reads. “If you go to Tel Aviv, your presence will be used by the Israeli authorities to reassure their citizens that all’s right with the world and nobody really cares that the Palestinians are suffering… Please don’t go.”
7,000 additional people have signed a petition urging the Chemical Brothers to abandon their Tel Aviv plans
“Israeli government officials have summed up how Israel exploits culture in order to cover up its severe violations of international law,” the petition says. “When international artists, such as the Chemical Brothers, perform at Israeli cultural venues and institutions, they help to create the false impression that Israel is a ‘normal’ country just like any other.”
The Chemical Brothers are scheduled to play Tel Aviv Convention Center on November 12. They will them embark on a short European tour the following month.
Waters is an outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights. Earlier this year, he, David Gilmour, and Nick Mason “reunited” as Pink Floyd in support of a pro-Palestinian activist group.
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