12/19/2023 0 Comments Roger waters palestineBut the Israelis of Rogers’ story effectively said “no” to this. No doubt that requires work on the part of Israelis, being honest with themselves about both how they, in supporting their government, are complicit in Palestinian suffering and can play a significant role in ending it. He did the very opposite: invited one group of people, namely Israelis, to live in harmony with their Palestinian neighbors. This is important too because Rogers did nothing-zero-wrong. The moment Rogers asked his audience to think about living with Palestinians, in peace and dignity, they turned their backs on him. Yet, as Rogers’ story illustrates, this means nothing as to whether people care about the unjust plight of others, in this case, Palestinians. Hence being favorable to others serves as a way of building positive rapport, making, say, dialogue or communication with them relatively easy. Rather, people-by way of expressing such behavior-may be eager to ingratiate themselves to you, hoping you will like them in turn. Rogers’ story drove home for me, something I shared with him during the webinar, that niceness or agreeableness is no reliable indicator of deep care for others. ‘What the fuck is he talking about? We’re not gonna do that.’ And they were completely silent from that moment on.” ’ And they went from ‘we love Pink Floyd!’ to. …But at the end of the show I made a little speech where I said something like, ‘It behooves you, this generation of young Israelis. And they were very, very enthusiastic and knew they all my work. But they were all Jewish and they were all Israelis. What I hadn’t realized at the time was that all of those people, without exception, were Jewish Israelis. And all their children go to school together and they teach brotherhood and sisterhood. There are Jews, Druids, Christians, Muslims, atheists, whoever. …It’s an agricultural community where the people who farm the land…are of all denominations. “I did…a gig in Israel, which was at a place called Neve Shalom. Rogers relates one of the experiences thus (the other, where he visits a film school, he shares here): Describing the experiences, he recalled for me how royalty, with exceptional warmth and hospitality, is often received, even by those who have no personal relationship with royalty themselves. In both, he was initially received graciously by Israelis who were familiar with his creative work. At the recent webinar, “Standing up for student solidarity with Palestine” (hosted by the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute), featured guest and legendary rock artist, Roger Waters, spoke candidly about two troubling experiences he had in Israel.
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