Roger Waters at 92d Street Y? Israel advocate calls for ‘real Jews’ to stop this assimilationist obscenity

This is great news: later this month the 92d Street Y is hosting Roger Waters, to have a look back over his career. The event appears to be sold out. I don’t see a moderator for the event. I imagine that Waters will talk about his Palestinian advocacy– for both the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, and speaking for Palestinian statehood at the U.N. last December. Waters supports boycott and is emphatic about Israeli apartheid. The fact that these views will be aired in a mainstream Jewish institution is bracing and potentially liberating…. Kudos to the 92d Street Y.

But pushback has begun. Lori Lowenthal Marcus of The Jewish Press in denouncing the event calls Waters: “one of the  biggest haters of Israel outside of the Middle East… one of the best known of the small group of celebrity advocates for the economic warfare movement against Israel known as the BDS movement.”

And below is a pressure campaign mounted by a rightwinger named Dan Friedman to put a kibosh on the event. You might think this is so much meretricious garbage but remember that two years ago the 92d Street Y cancelled the appearance of a Gaza doctor who had written a book about the fact that he wanted peace even after his three daughters had been slaughtered by Israeli attacks on the Strip– all because his Jewish counterpart dropped out of the event, and the 92d Street Y didn’t want Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish appearing by himself. You can bet that young people at the 92d Street Y were demoralized by that cancellation, and are cheered by the Waters appearance– and watching the sage gray officials of the institution with wariness.

Friedman writes at the blog Theo Spark. Note that his extremist appeal begins with a conservative invocation of Jewish identity:

Manhattan’s 92nd St. Y (Y as in Young Men’s Hebrew Association) is a perfect example of the assimilationist left-liberal mindset which has overrun Jewish institutions in the New York City area. Beyond the gym and the pool, this Y is known for its lecture series featuring conversations with notable personalities, many of whom have no connection whatsoever to Judaism, Jews or Israel. Perhaps trying to correct that imbalance, the 92nd St. Y is hosting a man with a perverse connection to all three.

Roger Waters is most famous for being a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. But lately, the 69-year-old rocker has cultivated an interest that extends well beyond music. Waters has found a new gig as front man for the campaign to bring down the Jewish State and libel the Jewish people. See exhibits A and B below.

On April 30, the aforementioned Y will be hosting Waters “as he looks back over his career.” Hopefully, the Jewish community, which the 92nd St. Y is supposed to serve, will let the Y know it strongly opposes its disgraceful sponsorship of this British anti-Semite on our dime and in our midst.

Hopefully, when the news gets around, Jews with an ounce of self-respect (and sanity) left will find even more effective ways to give the Y a piece of their mind. With a month to go before Waters’ scheduled appearance, real Jews still have time to mobilize, make our objections felt and stop this obscenity flat in its tracks.

 

Exhibit A: Roger Waters UN speech (YouTube)

 

Exhibit B: Text of Roger Waters’ speech at the UN