The concert was outrageous, starting from before the concert itself.
German police stopped Jewish protesters of the concert - but allowed BDSers to hand out literature.
Waters began the concert by declaring "A court in Frankfurt has ruled that I am not an anti-Semite." This is a lie, he has been allowed to move forward with the concerts for various bureaucratic reasons, but there was no such ruling.
One person listed during the song was not killed for being Jewish or Roma or Black or female. That was Rachel Corrie, "sentenced to death" for the "crime" of "defending Palestinians."
During the song "The Powers That Be," Waters put up photos of people he claims were murdered because of the crime of their identity. Two of them were Anne Frank, and Shireen Abu Akleh, the latter supposedly executed for the crime of "being Palestinian."
This is Holocaust trivialization and incredibly insulting.
Rogers' hypocrisy is acidly noted: his stage backdrop screams "resist capitalism" while he gets rich by charging hundreds of euros per seat for the concert.
But the most antisemitic part was an entire dialogue displayed on the backdrop before the aforementioned "The Powers That Be."
The on-screen dialogue says:
"They must think we're fucking stupid!"
"Who do you mean by they?"
"Them, up there in the penthouse, the fucking oligarchs"
"Ah, you mean....the Powers That Be."
"Yeah, the powers that fucking be."
"Wow! Why are they so brutal?"
"Because they want to crush our resistance and keep ruling the world."
Waters is asserting that there are powerful wealthy people who secretly pull the strings and control the world, specifically attacking anyone who speaks truth to power.
Waters is promoting a conspiracy theory that is virtually identical to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. But like the Soviet-era antisemites, he couches his hate of Jews in terms like "oligarchs"- a euphemism that he uses the way the Soviets used "rootless cosmopolitans" and "bourgeoisie," or how more recent antisemites say "Wall Street bankers" or "globalists."
Now, a reminder of what Waters said about Sheldon Adelson: “the puppet master who is pulling the strings of Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo..." And he then claimed that "Sheldon Adelson believes that only Jews – only Jewish people – are completely human. That... everybody else on Earth is there to serve them."
This was an antisemitic trope right out of Nazi literature, and it is what Waters believes - that Jews like Adelson are "the powers that be" who brutally rule the world.
Which makes it difficult for the audience not to then associate the rich "Wall Street globalists" with the pigs in suits opening up suitcases of cash during the later song "Money," evoking the classic antisemitic trope of Jews as pigs.
His twin hatred of Israel and his hate for "the powers that be" only make sense when you consider what, to his mind, the two have in common: Jews. Israel cannot be considered a worldwide "power that be" unless you also believe that the powers that be are primarily Jewish.
In a later song, "If I Had Been God," Rogers took direct aim at Israel. The graphics started off with supporting Julian Assange and then general slogans using his limited vocabulary, like "Fuck the patriarchy," "Fuck imperialism," "Fuck drones" and "Fuck the war on terror." Yet inevitably - while wearing a keffiyeh so no one could mistake his real message as being universal - he zeroed yet again in on Israel. The display said, "Fuck bombing people in their homes. Fuck the occupation. You can't have occupation and human rights."
If that isn't enough Israel obsession, he also displays Israel's life-saving security barrier during "Us + Them."
Us vs. Them is the theme of the show. This rich white male rock star getting paid a fortune to spew half-baked political messages pretends to be the everyman "Us" while the Jews and Israelis of every race and economic status are the unseen wealthy "Them" that secretly control the world and oppress the disadvantaged for no reason beyond their age-old greed and bigotry.
This is the profoundly antisemitic message that Roger Waters is giving to millions of his fans. A large number of Germans recognize it for what it is - because they know all about the euphemisms for Jews that incite hate and violence.
