Saturday, July 8, 2017

Jared Kushner & The Observer's Cheap Shot At Roger Waters






Photos and videos from Roger Water's current U.S. tour, where he brutally attacks the Trump administration.

Jared Kushner, you may have heard of him, publishes the former newspaper/current website Observer, formerly The New York Observer. Yesterday they published a hit piece by Paul Miller.

You can read "The Observer" article here...


It's an unfair and biased piece. Mostly it's about an equally unfair and biased documentary by Ian Hailperin. The documentary attacks Roger Waters' activism on behalf of Palestinians and against the Israeli government, military, and fanatic settlers, who deny Palestinian rights in the present day, as well as blocking a long-term, two-state solution, which would bring peace and justice to both Palestinians and Israelis. 


Roger Waters, both with Pink Floyd and as a solo artist, has never backed off political and social commentary. In recent times, he's become one of the most prominent spokespeople for the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement which seeks to change Israeli policy by pressuring Western artists like Radiohead to boycott concerts in Israel, the same way artists and athletes boycotted South Africa to isolate it and pressure it to change.


According to Hailperin, "To me, an attack on Israel is an attack against the Jewish people.” That's obviously wrong. One can easily criticize the Israeli government while loving the Israeli people and Jewish people in general, just as one can (and should) criticize the American and Russian governments, while still loving the American and Russian people.

It's understandable that Jewish people would have sentimental feelings about Israel. (Both Hailperin and Kushner are Jewish.) The Jewish people have been victims of many of the most horrible crimes ever committed and we all need to "never forget" those crimes. However, that does not mean that individual Jewish people are eternally immune from criticism, much less Jewish institutions like the Israeli government, military, and settler movement. 
The Kushner family supports the status quo in Israel. Waters supports radical change to accommodate Palestinian rights. (Jared, along with Observer's Ken Kurson, wrote Trump's 2016 pro-Israel speech to AIPAC which was credited with securing Jewish-American support for Trump.)

It is embarrassing and dishonest to immediately accuse any critic of Israel of being hateful and anti-Jewish. Many people have multiple loyalties in their lives and might have strong feelings about being Irish, being Queer, being a Democrat, but I think many people who have various loyalties are capable of being critical of the group or cause they identify with. Many Jews and Israelis support the peace process and a two-state solution. Other Jews and Israelis however, seem incapable of being critical of Israel and also cannot tolerate the criticism of others, immediately accusing Israeli critics of being bigots and practically of retroactively supporting the Holocaust.


Roger Waters not only has the right to criticize Israel, he is RIGHT to criticize Israel. The comparisons to Jim Crow and apartheid are valid. Artists should be encouraged to take stands, not punished for doing so.


Jared Kushner should stand trial for the crimes he committed against our country with Russia to benefit the Kushner and Trump family businesses. For him to launch such attacks at this time is just trying to divert attention from his and his family's crimes.


As for Roger Waters, is Kushner really upset about Israel?

Or is Jared just upset that Roger Waters has also taken on the Trump Crime Family on his current, successful U.S. tour?

New article on second anti-Roger Waters article:
Jared Kushner's Observer Takes Two Cheap Shots At Anti-Trump Rocker Roger Waters - Misses Both Times

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