Roger Waters dresses up as SS officer in Berlin

Roger Waters  became the center of scrutiny after he dressed up an SS officer and compared Holocaust victim Anne Frank to an Al-Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh during a concert at the Mercedes Benz Arena in Berlin last week.

His behaviour caught the attention of the State of Israel, which, in a post on Twitter called him out for his anti-Semitic behaviour.

"Good morning to everyone but Roger Waters," tweeted the Israeli Foreign Ministry to denote their disapproval for his act.

However, at the beginning of the show, an announcement came on screen that spoke of Waters that read, "On a matter of public interest: a court in Frankfurt has ruled that I am not an antisemite," causing an applause from the crowd. 

"Just to be clear, I condemn antisemitism unreservedly," continued the statement.

In his concert, there was  an animation  on a crucifix-shaped screen hanging above the stage.

The screen said "They must think we're f*%$ing stupid!" and "Who do you mean by they?"

"Them, up there in the penthouse, the f&%$ing oligarchy. Ah, you mean the powers that be."

There was also  a man in a suit drinking wine. Along with him,  riot police with shields with a symbol of crossed hammers were displayed on the screen. 

Also, a symbolic reference was that throughout the show, humanoid pigs and shady businessmen "pulling the strings" were displayed on the screen which caused social media users to criticise him.

Thereafter, the screen showed the names of Sophie Scholl, an Anti-Nazi activist murdered by the Nazis;  George Floyd, who was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis, Mahsa Amini, who was murdered by Iranian "minority police"; and Anne Frank, who was murdered by the Nazis in Bergen-Belsen.

What sparked controversy was that the list also included Abu Akleh, who is believed to have been killed  in Jenin by  Israeli soldiers during a shootout with Palestinian terrorists, and Rachel Corrie, who was killed in the southern Gaza Strip in 2003 by an armored IDF bulldozer .

The issue was that Abu Akleh’s name was listed right before Anne Frank, this was bashed by Israeli and Jewish activists and officials around the world.

The Israel Twitter account run by the Foreign Ministry bashed Waters on Wednesday, tweeting "Good morning to every one but Roger Waters who spent the evening in Berlin (Yes Berlin) desecrating the memory of Anne Frank and the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust."

After an intermission Waters walked on stage in a SS uniform where he emerged as an inflatable pig with were various words and symbols on it.

There was also a pair of glowing eyes floating over the crowd and banners.

 While this showed the style of The Third Reich there was one difference, there were crossed hammers instead of a swastika hanging from the ceiling.

Thereafter, Waters imitated the firing of a gun.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center condemned the performance on Wednesday, tweeting "Shame on Frankfurt authorities and Mercedes Benz arena in Berlin for providing antisemite #RogerWaters this venue for his concert with no concern/care for the Jewish community."