Roger Waters: Was the Oct. 7 Attack by Hamas a False Flag Operation?

In an interview with Glenn Greenwald, Roger Waters, a vocal critic of Israel, suggested that he was open to the idea that the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas could have been a “false flag operation”.

Waters was doubtful and unsure about the attack, which killed over 1400 people, many unarmed civilians, and took hundreds of hostages. He said he wanted to “wait and see what happened” and questioned how Israel could have missed the attack. He also speculated that the attack could have been a false flag, saying, “What we do know is, whether it was a false flag operation or not, or whatever, or whatever happened, and whatever story we’re going to get to — and we don’t know if we’re ever going to get much of the real story. It’s very, it’s always hard to tell what actually happened.” Israel has promised to investigate how the Oct. 7 attack happened. Reports indicate that the attack was probably the result of a big intelligence mistake by Israel and a wrong assessment of Hamas’ abilities and goals. “That’s what happens when you suffer a catastrophic systemic failure, and military headquarters and other installations are so close to the border,” an anonymous Israeli intelligence official told The Washington Post last month. “That’s what happens when you forget that all defense lines can eventually be breached and have been historically. That’s what happens when you underestimate your enemy.” Waters, of course, has been a long-time supporter of Palestine and a strong opponent of Israel, and over the years, his anti-Zionism and support of movements like the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement have led to claims that he is antisemitic. Waters has always rejected these claims, arguing that anti-Zionism is not the same as antisemitism and that mixing the two is a way of silencing valid criticism of Israel and its treatment of Palestinians.

Greenwald also asked Waters about the accusations of antisemitism against him, including the idea that Waters seems to “value Palestinian lives more than Israeli lives.” Waters called those claims “patent nonsense” and “complete rubbish,” adding, “This is the whole point of the difference between my platform and the Israeli government. I believe in equal human rights for all our brothers and sisters all over the world, irrespective of their ethnicity, religion, or nationality. The Israeli government doesn’t. For instance, in that local there — what we could call the Holy Land if we wanted to — they consider that people who, of the Jewish religion have a completely different set of rights to everybody else.”

Waters then did some classic edging and hedging. He said his message has always been, “Do you subscribe to the idea of equal human rights or not? Cause as soon as you don’t, you are a Nazi.” Not missing a beat, and with an exaggerated gasp, “And I know people — ‘You can’t say Nazi!’ … Anybody who is supremacist. Whatever you want to call it.”

He also said that, under the Geneva Convention, he believed it was “justified for [Hamas] to resist the occupation… they are absolutely legally and morally bound to resist the occupation.” And while he quickly condemned any war crimes committed during Oct. 7, including the targeting of civilians, he also seemed to imply that the severity of the attack was “thrown out of all proportion by the Israelis making up stories about beheading babies.” (The beheading claim has never been officially verified. The Israeli government has shared graphic photos allegedly showing babies killed by militants, but none showed decapitations.)

Waters also criticized the US government for its unconditional support of Israel and its role in blocking any international action to hold Israel accountable for its violations of human rights.

Some people might speculate that Israel would want a false flag operation for the following reasons:

- To justify its aggression and expansionism in the region and to gain more international support and sympathy for its actions.

- To divert attention from its internal problems and scandals, such as the corruption charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the social unrest caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis.

- To weaken and discredit Hamas and other Palestinian factions and to undermine their legitimacy and popularity among the Palestinian people and the Arab world.

- To test and demonstrate its military and technological capabilities and to deter any potential threats from Iran or other enemies.