A member of the legendary punk rock band The Stranglers called Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters “pretty ignorant” about the situation in Israel during an interview on Wednesday.

J. J. Burnel, bassist for the British band, was asked about his decision to play in Israel despite objections from boycott advocates, as well as his opinion of Waters’ position on Israel. Burnel minced no words about his fellow rocker, saying, “I think he’s pretty ignorant, he doesn’t know the situation.”

After calling the political reality in Israel “complicated,” Burnel elaborated, “If my neighbors told me that they would kick me here out back into the sea, I would kind of get quite defensive.”

Earlier in the interview, Burnel acknowledged that the band had received a “bit of criticism” for their decision to play in the Jewish state. He characterized this reaction as “very vituperative” and attributed it to some people being “uneducated. I think they’re ignorant of what happened here. I don’t think a lot of people realize that Israel is the only real democracy in this part of the world.”

Ahead of Thursday’s scheduled show in Tel Aviv, Burnel discussed The Stranglers’ history and the influence it had on rock bands including The Sex Pistols, The Clash, and even U2 in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

Burnel’s views on Israel echo those of John Lydon, also known as Johnny Rotten of the aforementioned Sex Pistols. In a 2010 interview, Lydon said, “If Elvis-f***ing-Costello wants to pull out of a gig in Israel because he’s suddenly got this compassion for Palestinians, then good on him. But I have absolutely one rule, right? Until I see an Arab country, a Muslim country, with a democracy, I won’t understand how anyone can have a problem with how they’re treated.”

Waters hasn’t just been panned by his peers for his support of Israel boycotts — in recent weeks, both Citibank and American Express refused to back his upcoming tour.

Waters’ anti-Israel advocacy has also engendered criticism from other celebrities. Jon Bon Jovi told the Israeli newspaper Yediot Achronot last year that he had heard about Waters’ appeal not to perform in Tel Aviv, “but it doesn’t interest me. I told my managers to give one simple answer: That I’m coming to Israel and I’m excited to come.” Two months later, Adam Sandler said in an interview on Howard Stern’s radio show that he was “disgusted” by activists who single out Israel for boycotts; the two were particularly critical of Waters.

A number of artists who were planning to play in Israel last year said that they felt threatened by proponents of the Palestinian-led boycott campaign against Israel. Despite these threats, major artists such as Alicia Keys, The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga, and Bon Jovi have performed in Israel in recent years. Typically, when entertainers announce plans to perform in the Jewish state, boycott supporters make public appeals and send private messages to try to pressure them to cancel the concert; if a particularly prominent artist is involved, they may receive an open letter from Waters.

In The Rise of ‘Soft’ Holocaust Denial, published in the October 2016 issue of The Tower Magazine, Zach Ben-Amots identified Waters as a prominent proponent of “soft” Holocaust denial due to his comparisons between the Nazi regime and the Jewish state.

This kind of denialism is becoming more and more popular in Europe. In an interview with the self-proclaimed “Fearless Voice of the American Left,” CounterPunch Magazine, former Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters compared Israel to Nazi-occupied Europe. “For an artist to go and play in a country that occupies other people’s land and oppresses them the way Israel does, is plain wrong. They should say no. I would not have played for the Vichy government in occupied France in the Second World War,” Waters said. “The parallels with what went on in the ‘30s in Germany are so crushingly obvious.” …

Like the obstruction of Holocaust memorialization, the Israel-Nazi analogy has been met with substantial criticism, mostly from Jewish voices. The Anti-Defamation League published a response to the deniers, saying:

“Those that make the comparison between the Jewish state and the Nazis and Hitler—who perpetrated the greatest and largest act of anti-Semitism in world history—have not chosen this comparison innocently or dispassionately. It is a charge that is purposefully directed at Jews in an effort to associate the victims of Nazi crimes with the Nazi perpetrators, and serves to diminish the significance and uniqueness of the Holocaust.”

In an article for the Algemeiner, Seth Frantzman wrote that proponents of this false analogy fall into three groups: Those who use it for shock value, those who are ignorant and intellectually lazy, and those driven by anti-Semitism. “Jewish communities should confront those who make this comparison and remind them of the real history,” wrote Frantzman. “We say, ‘Never again,’ but if we meant it, then we would combine it with an attempt to view the Holocaust as unique and not abuse its memory.”

[Photo: The Stranglers in Israel / YouTube ]