Waters attempted to book hotel rooms in two Buenos Aires hotels for his ‘This Is Not a Drill’ tour later this month, but reservations at both were canceled.
Rock legend and Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters was denied hotel rooms in the capitals of Argentina and Uruguay due to allegations of antisemitism from Uruguay’s ‘Israel lobby’, local media reported on Wednesday.
Waters attempted to book hotel rooms in two Buenos Aires hotels for his ‘This Is Not a Drill’ tour later this month, but reservations at both were canceled, Waters told Argentinian newspaper Pagina 12.
The Faena Hotel claimed they were “undergoing refurbishment,” while the Alvear Hotel first approved Waters’ booking for ten rooms, then canceled it, he explained.
I am in São Paulo, Brazil.
Last night some of my touring party went to a gig / party following the F1 car race here yesterday.
The headliner was Kendrick Lamar. So here’s the thing @kendricklamar.
“THEY’RE KILLING THE CHILDREN!”https://t.co/BdUdnWMPPF
— Roger Waters ✊ (@rogerwaters) November 6, 2023
Hotels in Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo, also rejected Waters while declining to furnish an explanation, the musician said, complaining that he was unable to attend a dinner date with the country’s former president, Jose Mujica, due to being “canceled” by the Israeli lobby.
“Somehow these idiots of the Israeli lobby managed to co-opt all the hotels in Buenos Aires and Montevideo and organized this extraordinary boycott based on the malicious lies … about me,” the musician said.
My Heart is Heavy: To Whom It May Concern, Please STOP – ROGER WATERS
The presidents of the Central Israelite Committee of Uruguay and the B’nai B’rith NGO, Roby Schindler and Franklin Rosenfeld, had threatened to launch a campaign against the Sofitel hotel chain if Waters was allowed to stay there.
The Pink Floyd frontman “takes advantage of his fame as an artist to lie and spew his hatred towards Israel and all Jews,” Schindler said in a letter to the chain, warning that “by receiving him, you will be, even if you do not want to, propagating the hatred this man exudes.”
Argentine lawyer Carlos Broitman told AFP he had filed a complaint against Waters with a federal court, denouncing the visit as a chance for the performer to “spread his message of hate and to incite or aggravate anti-Semitism.”
Waters, a long-time advocate of Palestinian rights, has fervently denied allegations of antisemitism, insisting his criticisms are directed at the Israeli government.
Regarding the latest attacks, he told Pagina 12, “They do it because I believe in human rights, and I speak openly about the genocide of the Palestinian people.”
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israel has, thus far, killed over 11,500 Palestinians, including 4,710 children and 3,160 women. The number of wounded has reached 29,800.
(RT, PC)
