Roger Waters calls on The Chemical Brothers to cancel Israel concert

The electronic duo are due to play Tel Aviv on November 12

Roger Waters has called on The Chemical Brothers to cancel a forthcoming concert in Israel.

The former Pink Floyd frontman has joined a host of artists who have written an open letter by Artists For Palestine UK urging the electronic duo to pull out of their show at the Convention Centre in Tel Aviv on November 12.

“Tel Aviv’s hipster vibe is a bubble on the surface of a very deep security state that drove out half the indigenous Palestinian population in 1948 and has no intention of letting their descendants back in,” the letter reads. “If you go to Tel Aviv, your presence will be used by the Israeli authorities to reassure their citizens that all’s right with the world and nobody really cares that the Palestinians are suffering… Please don’t go.”

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Playwright Caryl Churchill, poet Liz Lochhead and actress Maxine Peake were also involved in the letter addressed to The Chemical Brothers.

Another 7,000 people have also have signed a petition asking the Chemical Brothers to boycott Israel.

“Israeli government officials have summed up how Israel exploits culture in order to cover up its severe violations of international law,” the petition says.

“When international artists, such as the Chemical Brothers, perform at Israeli cultural venues and institutions, they help to create the false impression that Israel is a ‘normal’ country just like any other.”

Waters has been a longtime outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights.

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Earlier this year, the singer, David Gilmour, and Nick Mason “reunited” to release a joint statement, condemning Israeli forces over the detention of female activists sailing to Gaza.

“It is an issue I care about deeply,” Waters said. “I knew the women – one of whom I know [Mairead Maguire, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Northern Ireland], all of whom I admire – were going to try and get through the blockade. And we knew they would be arrested.

“I was really happy that Dave [Gilmour] and Nick [Mason] joined me on this, to be finally united with them, taking this stance.”

Waters also recently said that Donald Trump is “just as dangerous” as Adolf Hitler.

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