David Draiman, lead singer of the American heavy metal band Disturbed, criticized former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters and the rest of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in a video interview posted to the Bring Disturbed to Israel Facebook page on May 30.
Draiman, who describes himself as a secular Jew, said that as a member of the Creative Community for Peace’s advisory board, he constantly tells rock musicians performing in Israel to tune out “the ridiculous words of Mr. Roger Waters and his gang of morons” in the BDS movement. He added that “the BDS crew know well enough to not even try to contact me. I think they understand my position pretty well.”
Later in the video, Draiman called himself “a very, very strong supporter of Israel forever and for our people. Regardless of whether it’s Israel or anywhere else, boycotting an entire society, an entire people, based on the actions of its government is absolutely ridiculous.” He pointed out there aren’t boycotts being conducted against “oppressive, closed-off regimes” like Russia and China.
“It’s just Israel that gets this treatment, and I think we all know the reason behind that,” Draiman said. “There’s a special hatred that exists for the Jewish people in this world and it unfortunately can’t be explained. It’s something that has lasted and has been deep-seated for centuries and that’s part of our burden as a people, unfortunately.”
The metal singer explained that the best way to achieve peace is to “build bridges, you don’t knock them down,” arguing that BDS shuts off dialogue.
“The very notion that Waters and the rest of his Nazi comrades decide that this is the way to go ahead and foster change is absolute lunacy and idiocy,” Draiman said. “It makes no sense whatsoever. It’s only based on hatred of a culture and of a people in a society that has been demonized unjustifiably since the beginning of time.”
He went on to say that music brings people together, and that it’s “mind-boggling” there are those who try to use music to divide people.
“It’s just completely the antithesis of what art is meant to do,” Draiman said.
https://www.facebook.com/DisturbedIsrael/videos/2397237417180608/
Draiman previously criticized Waters in 2013 for putting a Star of David on a flying pig during one of his concerts, which Draiman said was “abhorrent and blatantly anti-Semitic.”
Before becoming Disturbed’s frontman, Draiman studied to become a rabbi. He has nearly 200 relatives in Israel, according to the Jerusalem Post. His father, YJ Draiman, ran for mayor of Los Angeles in 2017.
Disturbed’s hit songs include “Ten Thousand Fists,” “Stricken,” and a Grammy-nominated cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence.” The band will be performing in Israel for the first time on July 2.
