“The man is so wrapped up in his own psychosis”
Disturbed frontman David Draiman has again criticised Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters over his support for the Palestinian-led organisation BDS, as he geared up for his band’s first ever show in Israel.
Draiman, who is Jewish, reportedly addressed the crowd in Hebrew at many points during Tuesday’s (July 2) show at Live Park Rishon LeZion and sang the nation’s national anthem ‘Hatikvah’ [via Jerusalem Post]. Before the gig, he told radio show Met Al Metal that Waters is “delusional” in his support for BDS.
“The man is so delusional, the man is so wrapped up in his own psychosis and his own hatred disguised as this quote-unquote BDS campaign,” Draiman said of Waters. “The man is a very sick man.”
BDS Movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) aims to uphold “the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity”. Musicians including Waters and members of The Knife and Wolf Alice called for a boycott of the 2019 Eurovision song contest that was held in Tel Aviv in May.
Disturbed, live
Elsewhere in the pre-show interview, Draiman said: “[Waters] performed [in Israel] and he made up stories about it — incorrect stories. I don’t know if you’ve heard him try to go ahead and say how, during that one performance, he tried to address the Israeli crowd and ask for peace and supposedly was met with negativity and boos, and whatever, and then they go ahead and show the video from the actual performance so many years ago, and the Israeli fans were cheering for peace.”
Roger Waters
He added, “I don’t know what he did, drug-wise, during his life, but whatever he did fried a bunch of brain cells. The guy is not operating on all cylinders anymore.”
Last month, Draiman defended his reasons for agreeing to perform in Israel after criticism from Waters. He called the Pink Floyd bassist/vocalist a “Nazi”.
During Tuesday’s concert, The Jerusalem Post also reports that Draiman wore an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) T-shirt during the concert and at one point declared: “This is for all the IDF soldiers.”
Disturbed also performed their song ‘Never Again’ for the first time since 2011. It addresses Holocaust denial and antisemitism.
