Roger Waters urges Stevie Wonder not to accept prize from ‘apartheid Israel’
Roger Waters has urged fellow music legend Stevie Wonder not to accept Israel’s Wolf Prize, which is normally given to those who have made outstanding contributions to the arts and sciences.
The American singer-songwriter was awarded the prize in February by the Wolf Foundation, Israeli-owned entity, and will be required to travel to the occupation state for the award ceremony.
“Stevie Wonder, with respect, you turned down Haim Saban’s IDF fundraiser in 2012. Please turn down Israel’s Wolf Prize in 2021,” Waters wrote on Twitter while uploading a video.
.@steviewonder, with respect, you turned down Haim Saban’s IDF fundraiser in 2012. Please turn down Israel’s @WolfPrize_ in 2021.
Love
R.https://t.co/VXS3pWP2X9 pic.twitter.com/KTeFk5ePck— Roger Waters (@rogerwaters) March 9, 2021
In the video, Waters pointed out that Wonder had cancelled a 2013 performance at a fundraising gala for the Friends of Israel Defence Forces (FIDF).
The controversial annual event raises money for the Israeli occupation forces and triggered a campaign in 2018 urging Hollywood stars and celebrities not to attend the VIP gala.
Denouncing the “apartheid state,” Waters explained that, “This is Israel. You will be whitewashing them beyond all belief.”
Waters expects Wonder to boycott the award ceremony just as he boycotted the 2013 FIDF event.
If Wonder heeds Waters’ call he will join several other well-known figures who have cancelled appearances in high-profile events and ceremonies.
Human rights activists argue that such events and ceremonies are used to divert attention from Israel’s many human rights abuse.
Hollywood star Natalie Portman, who was born in ‘Israel’ but moved to the United States with her family when she was young, sparked a scandal when she announced in April 2018 that she would not come to ‘Israel’ to accept the Genesis Prize (a $1 million award given annually to Jewish people who have attained recognition and excellence in their fields).
“Recent events in Israel have been extremely distressing to her and she does not feel comfortable participating in any public events in Israel,” her representative said at the time.
She also slammed Israel’s nation-state law as “racist” and a “mistake”.
The same year, Israeli author Yuval Noah Harari refused to be honoured by ‘Israel’ in protest against its Nation-State Law.
Defending Harari’s decision, his manager Karin Eliahu-Perry said at the time, “We prefer not to represent the government as long as it persists in this policy [the Nation-State Law].”
The law was passed in 2018 and declared that only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country. Its clauses enshrine in law the creation of Jewish-only settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories “as a national value”. Critics of the legislation have argued that it cements Israel’s status as an apartheid state.
In a landmark position paper in January, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem cited the bill as one of the many reasons for concluding that ‘Israel’ is an apartheid state that “promotes and perpetuates Jewish supremacy between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.”
