Roger Waters pens scathing open letter to Bon Jovi over Israel gig

Roger Waters, left, and Jon Bon Jovi, right

In late September, Jon Bon Jovi spoke to Israel’s Yediot Achronot about his excitement to finally play in Israel. Maybe it was foreshadowing, or maybe because he’s done it several times before, reporter Raz Schechnik asked Bon Jovi about Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd frontman, who has recently dedicated much of his energies to the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. 

“Yes, I heard about that but it doesn’t interest me,” Bon Jovi responded to Schechnik. “I told my managers to give one simple answer: that I’m coming to Israel and I’m excited to come.”

The frontman of the iconic rock band Bon Jovi is scheduled to play Tel Aviv tomorrow evening, Oct. 3. Today, to no one’s surprise, Waters penned an open letter to the musician in the form of an op-ed for Salon.

In it, Waters accuses Bon Jovi and his bandmates of “standing shoulder to shoulder” with Israeli settlers “burning Palestinian babies,” and encouraged that they reconsider performing due to “the Israeli government’s apartheid policies.”

A spokesperson for Bon Jovi declined to comment to a request made by Rolling Stone.

Waters has penned several open letters in the past encouraging musicians not to perform in Israel, including Alan Parsons, Neil Young, Robbie Williams, and the Rolling Stones. Save for Neil Young, who cancelled during last year’s 50-day war between the IDF and Hamas due to pressures from Israeli police, all of the aforementioned bands went on to perform in Israel unabated.

Read Rogers’ entire letter below to Bon Jovi below:

Dear Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan and Tico Torres,

Often in the past I have written detailed, and sometimes even persuasive, letters to colleagues in the music business, encouraging them not to give succor to the Israeli government’s apartheid policies by performing in Israel. Having read Jon's comments last week in Yedioth Ahronoth, I won't waste my time drawing parallels with Apartheid South Africa and the moral stand that so many artists took then and that thousands are taking now in the face of decades of Israeli oppression of Palestinians.

So the die is cast, you are determined to proceed with your gig in Tel Aviv on Oct. 3. You are making your stand.

You stand shoulder to shoulder

With the settler who burned the baby

With the bulldozer driver who crushed Rachel Corrie

With the soldier who shot the soccer player’s feet to bits

With the sailor who shelled the boys on the beach

With the sniper who killed the kid in the green shirt

And the one who emptied his clip into the 13-year-old girl

And the Minister of Justice who called for genocide

You had a chance to stand

On the side of justice

With the pilot who refused to bomb refugee camps

With the teenager who chose eight prison terms over army service

With the prisoner who fasted for 266 days until freedom

With the doctor banned from entry for saving lives

With the farmer who was cut down marching to the wall

With the legless child growing up in the rubble

And the 550 others who won’t grow up at all

Because of the missiles and tank shells and bullets we sent

The dead can't remind you of the crimes you've ignored. But, lest we forget, "To stand by silent and indifferent is the greatest crime of all."

Roger Waters