Uruguay, Argentina hotels ban Roger Waters over pro-Palestine stance
3 Min Read
One hotel chain received a threat to start a campaign against them if they allowed Waters to stay.
-
British musician and member of the Pink Floyd band, Roger Waters, presents the trophy of the men's final match of the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, France on June 10, 2018. (AP)
According to local media reports, Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters was denied hotel reservations in Argentina and Uruguay due to allegations of "anti-semitism" leveled against him by Uruguay’s "Israeli lobby" during his 'This Is Not a Drill' tour later this month.
Waters told Argentinian newspaper Pagina 12 that his reservations were canceled - the Faena Hotel claimed it was because of “undergoing refurbishment,” while the Alvear Hotel canceled his booking for ten rooms.
He continued to say that hotels in Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo, denied his reservation with no explanation and he stated that he was also unable to attend a dinner with the country’s former president, Jose Mujica, as a result of being "canceled" by the Israeli lobby.
"Somehow these idiots of the Israeli lobby managed to co-opt all the hotels in Buenos Aires and Montevideo and organized this extraordinary boycott based on the malicious lies … about me," the singer added.
Read next: Roger Waters: 'American empire is the most evil of all'
'Because I believe in human rights'
Meanwhile, the presidents of the Central Israelite Committee of Uruguay and the B’nai B’rith NGO, Roby Schindler and Franklin Rosenfeld, threatened to start a campaign against the Sofitel hotel chain if the singer was permitted to stay there.
In a letter to the hotel chain, Schindler claimed that Waters "takes advantage of his fame as an artist to lie and spew his hatred towards Israel and all Jews," believing that "by receiving him, you will be, even if you do not want to, propagating the hatred this man exudes."
Argentine lawyer Carlos Broitman relayed to AFP that a complaint against Waters has been filed with a federal court, calling his visit a chance to “spread his message of hate and to incite or aggravate anti-Semitism.”
Waters has repeatedly denied allegations of anti-Semitism, as he stated to Pagina 12 regarding the latest attacks against him, "They do it because I believe in human rights, and I speak openly about the genocide of the Palestinian people."
Between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism
In an interview with The Rolling Stones last year, he emphasized the importance of the Palestinian cause and condemned the IOF by saying, "It’s not just the appalling death of Shireen Abu Akleh. They're all appalling deaths... Every Palestinian shot to death by the [Israeli occupation forces] is appalling. She just happened to be very well known and very well loved, and she was a journalist and wearing a press and whatever. But nothing will happen to the murderer, as we know. It'll be swept under the carpet anyways."
Many mostly Western countries seem to be equating "anti-Semitism" with anti-Zionism in order to delegitimize any bid to undermine the occupation.
Read more: Supporting Palestine is 'manifestation of anti-Semitism': Israeli amb.
The calls for labeling anything anti-Israeli as anti-Semitic originates from the Israeli occupation. "Israel's" ambassador to Moscow, Alexander Ben Zvi, relayed to journalists on Monday that pro-Palestine protests amid the war on Gaza are nothing but "manifestations of anti-Semitism".
