‘What is it with Roger Waters and the Jews?’ Radio host attacks rocker over Bon Jovi criticism
Radio personality Howard Stern has asked if Pink Floyd star Roger Waters wants Jews to “go back to the concentration camp”, after the British musician attacked Jon Bon Jovi for playing in Tel Aviv.
New York disc jockey Stern – who is Jewish – launched the blistering criticism of Waters in a seven-minute rant on his popular radio show this Tuesday.
Waters, an outspoken Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions activist, said in an open letter issued in the run-up to Bon Jovi’s sell-out show last week that the singer would be standing “shoulder to shoulder… with the settler who burned the baby” – a reference to the Jewish extremists who firebombed a Palestinian home in August – should he go ahead with the concert
His letter – the latest in a long-line of anti-Israel missives to artists including Robbie Williams, Dionne Warwick and the Rolling Stones – also said Bon Jovi, 53, had forfeited his chance to “stand on the side of justice”, despite making no reference to attacks perpetrated by Palestinian terrorists.
Blasting 72-year-old Waters in characteristically fiery fashion, Stern said: “He’s gotta shut up, Roger Waters.
“What is with Roger Waters and the Jews? Where do you want the Jews to go Roger?
“Where do you want them to go? You want them to go back to the concentration camp?”
Defending the state of Israel, he added: “There are so many Arab countries and so much land around Israel that if you threw a pin in a pool, that’s what Israel is.
“Picture a desert with no natural resources, no water, no oil. It was a shithole that nomads would essentially walk over. So they figured, where’s the one place they can stick Jews where no one will be offended.”
Stern, who last year said “if you’re anti-Israel you’re anti-America”, also claimed Arab countries “don’t want” Palestinians.
The representative body for Palestinians in the US defended Waters – who accused Robbie Williams of “endorsing deadly racism” with a Tel Aviv concert this summer – as a “human rights activist”, and accused Stern of making “racist assumptions”.
Almost 55,000 people packed out Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park for Bon Jovi’s show last weekend. He told fans he would return to Israel “whenever you say” – and signed off with a plea for the audience to “stay safe”.
The gig was the Living On A Prayer star’s first visit to Israel.
In an interview with Hebrew newspaper Yediot Ahronoth, he said he had “been everywhere and Israel was a place that I’ve always wanted to visit, but it never worked out.
“I’ve always heard what a wonderful place Israel is – the birthplace of all religions.”
Bon Jovi was not the only US star to grace Tel Aviv last week, with rap icon Kanye West playing Ramat Gan Stadium three days previously.
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