The US government on Tuesday joined the accusations of antisemitism lodged against Roger Waters after he wore a Nazi-style uniform at a Berlin concert last month, AFP reported.
Waters also compared Anne Frank to Shireen Abu Aqleh, an Al Jazeera journalist who was shot dead while covering clashes between IDF soldiers and Palestinian Arab terrorists in Jenin last year.
Police in Berlin have opened a criminal investigation into suspected incitement by Waters following the May 17 concert at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
The 79-year-old later claimed that aspects of his performance that have been questioned were "quite clearly" a statement against fascism, injustice and bigotry.
The State Department on Tuesday weighed in on the issue, by saying that the concert "contained imagery that is deeply offensive to Jewish people and minimized the Holocaust."
"The artist in question has a long track record of using antisemitic tropes to denigrate Jewish people," the State Department said in written response to questions.
The State Department comment was in support of its envoy on combating antisemitism, Deborah Lipstadt, who condemned the rocker's "despicable Holocaust distortion."
Her commentary was in turn a response to her counterpart from the European Union, Katharina von Schnurbein, who said she was "sick and disgusted by Roger Waters' obsession to belittle and trivialize the Shoah," using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust.
Waters is notorious for his anti-Israel statements and actions. He has in the past compared Israel to Nazi Germany and released a giant balloon pig bearing the Star of David during a concert in Belgium. Concert-goers said the Jewish star was among several symbols representing various corporations and fascist movements.
He has also called Zionism an “ugly stain” that must be removed. In defense of his actions, Waters argues that BDS “isn’t about music – it’s about human rights.”