‘Scarlett, you are undeniably cute, but if you think Soda Stream is building bridges towards peace you are also undeniably not paying attention,’ writes musician.
Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters perfoming “The Wall” in Canada, 2010. Photo by AP
Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters vented at Neil Young and Scarlett Johansson for supporting Israel on his Facebook page on Saturday.
Noting he had written each one privately, the pro-BDS rock star lamented that he was “confused” about Young, who was “always one of my heroes,” coming to Israel to give a concert, and that Johansson, who “was a young woman of strength and integrity” had made an “about face” in choosing to be a spokesperson for Israeli company SodaStream.
Most of his post is directed at Johansson, asking her if she was aware “that the Israeli government has razed to the ground a Bedouin village in the Negev desert in Southern Israel 63 times, the last time being on the 26th of December 2013.” He notes that while Bedouin are Israeli citizens, they do not enjoy full rights “because in ‘Democratic’ Israel there are fifty laws that discriminate against non-Jewish citizens.”
He then takes her to task for defending her association with SodaStream by claiming that the Palestinian workers in the factory enjoy equal pay, benefits and rights. “Really? Equal Rights? Do they?” posts Waters.
The rock star ends with the statement: “Scarlett, you are undeniably cute, but if you think Soda Stream is building bridges towards peace you are also undeniably not paying attention.”
Neither Young nor Johansson have responded publicly to the post.
In August, Roger Waters published an open letter calling on fellow musicians to unite against Israel. “I write to you now, my brothers and sisters in the family of Rock and Roll, to ask you to join with me, and thousands of other artists around the world, to declare a cultural boycott on Israel,” Waters wrote.
He officially announced he was joining the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in 2011.
It’s pretty evil isn’t it? Your biggest idols and heroes join the dark side. You are thereby very, very compelled to give up because how can you eschew movies with Scarlett in them or music by Young?
We are free to sell our souls. But we are not free from consequences. And just because Young et al don’t see them now, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t coming.