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David Duke Defends Roger Waters

Former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters has earned the full-throated endorsement of the former leader of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) following a five-date tour of Germany that has ended with a police investigation into allegations of antisemitism against the 79-year-old veteran rocker.

In a posting on Gab, a social media platform much favored by white supremacists, the former KKK Imperial Wizard David Duke praised Waters — a prominent supporter of the “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions” (BDS) campaign targeting Israeli sovereignty —  for confronting the “Jewish Global Deep State” in both his defense of the Palestinians and his opposition to western support for Ukraine as it pushes back against the Russian military invasion.

Former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters has earned the full-throated endorsement of the former leader of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) following a five-date tour of Germany that has ended with a police investigation into allegations of antisemitism against the 79-year-old veteran rocker.

In a posting on Gab, a social media platform much favored by white supremacists, the former KKK Imperial Wizard David Duke praised Waters — a prominent supporter of the “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions” (BDS) campaign targeting Israeli sovereignty —  for confronting the “Jewish Global Deep State” in both his defense of the Palestinians and his opposition to western support for Ukraine as it pushes back against the Russian military invasion.

Waters has been vocal in criticizing western support for Ukraine’s democratic government and for arguing that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “fighting fascism.” In Feb., the singer delivered a rambling speech to the UN Security Council at the invitation of the Russian mission to the world body, a few days after giving an interview to a German news outlet in which he argued that Russia was morally superior to Israel as “Moscow does not run an apartheid state based on the genocide of the indigenous inhabitants.”

Duke’s defense of Waters came just days after police in Berlin announced an investigation into Waters for appearing in a Nazi-style uniform during his May 17-18 shows at the Mercedes Benz Arena in the German capital. Waters has rejected the accusation that the uniform was an endorsement of Nazism, pointing out that it first featured in Pink Floyd’s 1982 conceptual album and movie “The Wall,” in which the main character, Pink, is driven by drug abuse and other pressures into becoming a Nazi-like figure.

NGO StopAntisemitism featured Roger Waters as their “Antisemite of the Week” for his ongoing antisemitic speech and performances throughout his shows, most recently in Germany.

“My recent appearance in Berlin has provoked malicious attacks from those who want to slander and silence me because they disagree with my political views and moral principles,” Waters stated in the show’s aftermath.

Among those backing a legal prosecution against Waters is Felix Klein, the leading German federal official tasked with combating antisemitism. Following the Berlin concerts, Klein urged the police and the judicial authorities to “remain vigilant,” at the same time encouraging members of the audience to file complaints against Waters.

At his final show in Frankfurt on Sunday night, Waters refrained from donning the offending uniform, saying that wearing it would be inappropriate given the history of the Festhalle, the venue where he performed, where in Nov. 1938 more than 3,000 Jews were arrested, beaten and tortured by the Nazi regime prior to being deported to concentration camps. Several pro-Israel demonstrators lined the pathway to the Festhalle on Sunday night, waving Israeli flags and holding signs condemning antisemitism. Among those addressing the demonstrators was the city’s mayor, Mike Josef of the center-left SPD Party, who pledged that “Frankfurt will remain the best city for Jews” and that “a concert like this in the Festhalle must definitely not be repeated.”