Roger Waters
Roger WatersReuters

The Latin American branch of the US-based Jewish advocacy group Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) has launched a campaign to prevent Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters from performing on tour in Mexico, AFP reported on Friday.

Waters, 76, is due on stage in Mexico City on October 7 as part of his "This Is Not A Drill" North American tour that begins in Pittsburgh in July.

The SWC, which supports Holocaust survivors and confronts anti-Semitism, has written to businesses sponsoring and promoting Waters' concert in Mexico, urging them to pull out, according to AFP.

"Your company's prestige should not be stained by those that use music to camouflage discrimination and the diffusion of a violent and racist message," said the letter, signed by SWC international relations directors Shimon Samuels and Ariel Gelblung.

Waters is notorious for his support for BDS and for his anti-Israel statements and actions.

The rock artist has verbally attacked and pressured many artists who chose to perform in Israel over the last several years.

Waters 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.

In defense of his actions, Waters argues that BDS “isn’t about music – it’s about human rights.”

The SWC accused Waters of anti-Semitism over his use of the inflatable pig during previous concerts.

"These images refer to medieval German anti-Semitic iconography," said the center, which launched a "Resist the Racist" campaign the last time Waters performed in Mexico in 2018.

Last week, the leadership of B’nai B’rith International criticized Major League Baseball’s involvement in the sale of tickets for Roger Waters’ North American tour.

“Waters is an avowed anti-Semite whose views on Jews and Israel far exceed the boundaries of civil discourse,” the heads of the organization wrote MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, adding they were “saddened and outraged that baseball ... would use its online resources to publicize an individual with an alarming history of anti-Semitic hatred. We call on MLB to cease providing Roger Waters a platform.”

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)