By Yona Schnitzer
Members of the British rock cover group ‘UK Pink Floyd Experience’ landed in Israel on Thursday evening, despite a heavy campaign of pressure by Roger Waters and BDS activists in recent months to cancel the visit. At the airport, volunteers from the Act.IL organization at IDC Herzliya and other pro-Israel organizations, waited for the rock band and held a warm reception in their honor.
The dozens of activists and volunteers greeted the band with applause and gave each band member special kits with souvenirs and “Israeli” gifts to accompany them during their visit to Israel.
The British band arrived in Israel for three concerts in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beer Sheva. After the band announced the cancellation of the performances due to heavy pressure from the BDS movement and Roger Waters, a member of the original Pink Floyd band and a BDS activist, thousands of Israelis began a viral protest, opposing the cancellation.
The Israeli protest led the band to withdraw its announcement and announce that they will arrive in Israel as planned.
“We continue our efforts to stop the BDS movement, which is working to prevent musicians from coming to Israel,” said Yarden Ben Yosef, director of Act.IL at IDC Herzliya, adding that it was more important to connect people through music than surrender to bullying, “We thanked them for coming to Israel and expressed our appreciation that they decided to perform here despite the pressure exerted on them.”