Roger Waters' 2021 Israel Comments and the Gilmour-Mason Response

The most interesting takeaway: the 2021 public split over Roger Waters’ remarks on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict wasn’t a fresh wound — it was a flare-up of a decades-old fault line. David Gilmour and Nick Mason responded in very different ways, but both made clear they were not in step with Waters.

Gilmour was blunt. In a February 2021 statement on his website and social media, he called Waters’ comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany and its treatment of Palestinians “antisemitic and deeply offensive.” He said Waters was using the Pink Floyd brand to push views that Gilmour and Mason “do not endorse or share.” He also dismissed any suggestion of a “new rift,” noting the musical and personal differences had existed since the 1980s. Mason was more measured. In a BBC interview around the same time, he said he disagreed with Waters’ approach and the use of Pink Floyd imagery, but stopped short of calling Waters antisemitic, preferring to focus on the band’s legacy of peace.

No new rift was created because the old one never healed. Waters had already been estranged from Gilmour and Mason since his 1985 departure from Pink Floyd, and the legal battles of the 1980s left permanent scars. Gilmour’s statement only confirmed what fans already knew: the three surviving members cannot agree on much beyond their shared history.