I'm no anti Semitic, says Pink Floyd star

Thirty years after being forced to fight off claims he was corrupting children with Pink Floyd's The Wall album, Roger Waters has been driven to defend himself from allegations of anti-Semitism.

The bassist has launched a vigorous defence of his views and music after being accused by an American-Jewish rights agency of using images in his stage show that promoted stereotypes.

During a performance of Goodbye Blue Sky at the United States leg of The Wall Live tour, which revives Pink Floyd's hit 1979 album, a B52 bomber projected on to a backdrop is shown dropping symbols including the Star of David and a dollar sign, as well as a crucifix and logos for Shell and Mercedes.

Abraham Foxman, the director of the Anti-Defamation League, said using the dollar sign and the Star of David in sequence echoed the stereotype that Jews were avaricious.

Referring to criticism Waters has previously made of Israel for its treatment of the Palestinians, Foxman said the musician should have "chosen some other way to convey his political views without playing into and dredging up the worst age-old anti-Semitic stereotype about Jews and their supposed obsession with making money".

Waters, who was born in Surrey but has lived in the US for 10 years, said the slur was so serious he felt compelled to set the record straight in an open letter to the Independent.

"I watch the workings of politics here and particularly the Republican Party. They work with the axiom that you can tell as many lies as you want - and often the bigger the better - and eventually they will be believed," he said.

"If I don't respond people will see the story and will come to believe I'm anti-Semitic, and I'm not. Nothing could be further from the truth."

The images he chose to project during the show were selected because they are "representative of religious and national and commercial interests, all of which have a malign influence on our lives and prevent us from treating each other decently".

Waters has spoken against Israeli policies and accused the ADL of painting critics as anti-Semitic.

"It's a screen that they hide behind. I don't think they should be taken seriously on that. You can attack Israeli policy without being anti-Jewish," he said.

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