English singer Roger Waters, who is known for his constant anti-Israel and pro-Vladimir Putin stances, has lost a libel claim in a British court for accusing a Jewish filmmaker of “cheerleading the genocide of the Palestinian people,” Jewish News reported. The High Court in London rejected Waters' claims that his accusations against John Ware were merely his personal opinions and ruled that they were defamatory because he attempted to pass them as fact and not as his own opinions. Justice Jennifer Eady wrote in her ruling, “The statements are defamatory of the claimant at common law. Although I would accept that the first defendant’s reference to a ‘genocide’ expressed his opinion as to what was happening as a result of the actions of Israeli forces in Gaza (to which he had already referred), in stating that the claimant positively supported that ‘genocide,’ I find he was making a statement of fact.” Ware produced the 2023 documentary “The Dark Side of Roger Waters," which detailed Rogers' long history of antisemitism from long before he became a prominent anti-Israel activist. Related articles: Israeli singer Aviv Geffen takes shot at Roger Waters Israeli singer responds to Roger Waters' anti-Israel criticism Sylvan Adams fires back at Roger Waters’ personal attacks Screening of anti-Israel film in Jaffa canceled Waters made the defamatory comments about Ware in an interview on Al Jazeera's 'The Stream' program last year. Ware subsequently sued both Waters and Al Jazeera. The court ruling means that the case will now go to trial. The documentary about Waters was released by the Campaign Against Antisemitism organization in 2023. This documentary featured conversations with Norbert Stachel, Waters’ one-time saxophonist. The documentary accused Waters of mocking Stachel's grandmother who had been murdered in the Holocaust, complaining about 'Jew food,' and asking if a well-known anti-Jewish slur could be written on the inflatable pig that is a feature of many of his concerts. Waters has supported the Hamas terrorist organization since the October 7 massacre, going so far as to deny the atrocities Hamas committed during the massacre. In an interview with Piers Morgan in July 2024, Waters claimed, "All the filthy disgusting lies that the Israelis told after October 7, about burning babies and women being raped were completely …" When Morgan pointed out that even the UN had established that women were raped, Waters continued to deny the atrocities Hamas committed and claimed that there was "no evidence." When presented with the evidence by Morgan, Waters behaved bizarrely, turning to his left, speaking to himself, and saying, 'Roger, calm down. Don’t sink to his level. Alright, I won’t. Stop shouting."
