Antisemitism Accusations Fail to Stop Roger Waters’ Concerts in Chile

Despite allegations of antisemitism, Roger Waters’ concerts in Chile will take place as planned, according to a court ruling. The ex-Pink Floyd bassist, who has always maintained that he is not an antisemite, will perform at the Estadio Monumental in Santiago on November 25 and 26, as part of his This Is Not A Drill Tour. However, the Representative Committee of Jewish Entities in Chile had tried to prevent the shows from happening, claiming that Waters has a “history of incitement to antisemitic hatred”. But the Santiago’s Court of Appeals rejected the attempt, stating that “no facts have been mentioned that could constitute a violation of the constitutional guarantees”. In support of the concerts, more than 60 Chilean artists sent a letter to the country’s Court of Appeals, urging them to let the shows go on. “The mentioned action, beyond its rhetorical foundation, seeks to censor in advance the criticism of the killing of children, bombings of refugee camps, hospitals, the killing of United Nations officials, among other crimes committed by the government led by the far-right Benjamin Netanyahu,” they wrote. Waters has consistently refuted all charges of antisemitism and clarified that his criticism is directed at Israel, not Judaism. He also accused Israel of “abusing the term antisemitism to intimidate people like me into silence”.