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‘Who’s Roger Waters?’ Famed Israeli-American Violinist Itzhak Perlman and Wife Dismiss BDS-Supporting Rocker
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by Algemeiner Staff
Violinist Itzhak Perlman performing at the White House during the George W. Bush presidency. Photo: White House.
Israeli virtuoso Itzhak Perlman — widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest living violinists — had some dismissive words for leading BDS advocate and former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters in a Billboard interview published this week.
Asked what he thought “of musicians like Roger Waters, who also lives part-time out here in the Hamptons, who boycott Israel?” Perlman responded, “What am I going to say? He’s entitled to his opinion.”
“There’s nothing I say that will convince people otherwise, so that’s it,” he continued. “What can you do? There are many, many people who are on the bandwagon of boycotting Israel.”
Pressed on the point that Waters is a “famous musician,” Perlman answered, “He’s no friend of mine, so…”
Meanwhile, on hearing the name of Pink Floyd’s bassist, who wrote or co-wrote most of the band’s songs, Perlman’s wife Toby asked merely, “Who’s Roger Waters?”
The Perlmans also discussed their personal feelings toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (“We didn’t know that we’d be having tea with Netanyahu…That was also problematic because [of his politics…”],) and US President Donald Trump (“But with Trump, you just don’t go [to a White House event]. You say, ‘No, I’m sorry, I’m busy.'”)
Speaking about the disability he developed after contracting polio at the age of four, Perlman, now 72, said that his maxim was, “Separate your abilities from your disabilities.”
“I say that about everybody with a disability,” he stated. “What you can’t do, you can’t do, but what you can do, let’s not let the other one affect it.”
