- Roger Waters loses $4M sponsorship over BDS
A group at the centre of an anti-semitism row paid for Jeremy Corbyn to travel to Syria to meet brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad.
The 2009 trip, while the current Labour Party leader was a backbench MP, was hosted by the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC), a London-based lobby group which campaigns on behalf of displaced Palestinians.
He was one of several MPs from the three main parties to make the trip to Syria, in a delegation headed by Conservative Lord Sheikh, which thanked Assad for his country’s housing of half a million Palestinian refugees in the 61 years since 1948 – the year in which the state of Israel was founded.
In the Members’ Register of Interests, Mr Corbyn recording the trip as having been worth £1,300.
The PRC has been embroiled in controversy this week after holding a meeting at the House of Lords, where a speaker – who the group says was an audience member – claimed a ‘heretic’ rabbi had ‘antagonised’ Hitler ‘to then want to systematically kill Jews wherever he could find them as opposed to just make Germany a Jew-free land’.
That meeting was chaired by Baroness Tonge, a former Lib Dem peer who resigned from the party as she was suspended – who was also on the 2009 trip.
She told the MailOnline that the delegation visited UN camps on the Iraq/Syria border, which she described as ‘full of refugees from the Iraqi government who did not like Sunni Palestinians’.
And she recalled: ‘They wanted to go anywhere but stay in the camp.’
Of the delegation’s meetings with Assad, she said: ‘Assad had been very good to Palestinian refugees in Syria, but was getting fed up with taking more because of the strain on his countries resources.
In the meantime, Roger Waters is planning his most spectacular and expensive tour yet — but the Pink Floyd legend is facing backlash from some big-name sponsors over his views on Israel.
Sources tell us that American Express balked at spending up to $4 million to sponsor Waters’ 2017 US + Them North American tour.
AmEx sponsored this month’s so-called “Oldchella,” the Desert Trip festival, where Waters performed along with the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Neil Young.
Waters, who has angered many in New York with his support for a boycott of Israel over the issue of Palestinian rights, shocked people at Oldchella by unleashing a series of brutal images targeting Donald Trump, and slogans such as “F - - k Trump and his wall” and “Arrogant, lying, racist, sexist,” then voicing solidarity with students protesting for Palestinians. He also urged people to support the controversial BDS Movement (boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel) and added, “I encourage the government in Israel to end the occupation.”
An AmEx source told us: “Roger is putting on a huge show. The company was asked to sponsor his tour for $4 million, but pulled out because it did not want to be part of his anti-Israel rhetoric.”
A spokeswoman for AmEx told us they worked with Waters at Desert Trip, but, “We never committed to sponsoring Roger Waters’ upcoming tour. When we were approached with the options, we passed on making a bid.” AmEx works with artists such as Ariana Grande, Beyoncé and Kanye West, and the rep added, “It is a balancing act to work with artists our card members love, within the budgets we have allocated.” Waters has since partnered with Citi.
A rep for Waters didn’t respond, but the rocker said this year, “I have been accused of being a Nazi and an anti-Semite for the past 10 years. My industry has been particularly recalcitrant in even raising a voice [against Israel] . . . I’ve talked to a lot of them, and they are scared s–tless. If they say something in public, they will no longer have a career. They will be destroyed.”
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