Canadian-Israeli philanthropist Sylvan Adams challenges Roger Waters to debate

Roger Waters, co-founder of the renowned British rock group Pink Floyd, who has become notorious for his outspoken anti-Israel and antisemitic statements in recent years, may have met his match in Sylvan Adams, the noted Canadian-Israeli philanthropist who made aliyah in 2015 who bills himself as Israel’s “self-appointed ambassador-at-large.”

In October, Adams appeared on the CJN Daily podcast of the Canadian Jewish News, in which he discussed the anti-Israel protests that took place at McGill University in Montreal and the defacement of the $30 million Sylvan Adams Sports Science Institute which he donated to the school – the largest-ever gift to a Canadian university campus.  

In the course of the podcast, Adams, who has long promoted Israel to the world through sports, music, and culture, expressed an interest in initiating a commemorative concert after the Swords of Iron War that would feature the two remaining members of Pink Floyd – who have repudiated Waters’ antisemitic views –  and Irish musician Bono, who condemned the October 7 attack.  

Ideally, he said, the concert would be held in Re’im, where hundreds of Israeli youth were massacred at the Nova Music Festival on October 7.

In response to Adams’ podcast, Waters penned an article that appeared on a progressive Canadian website called “rabble,” in which he termed Adams a “looney Zionist billionaire who thinks that he can reunite Pink Floyd to promote and celebrate the genocide of the Palestinian people.” He called Adams a “racist supremacist” and suggested that he lacked the courage to participate in a debate to discuss whether Israel’s actions in the war could be defined as genocidal.

Waters also accused Adams of bringing Madonna and the Argentine national soccer team to appear in Israel as an attempt to “whitewash Israeli apartheid.”

Speaking with the Jerusalem Post, Adams said, “He accuses me of being a looney Zionist billionaire.  I don’t think I’m looney, and I don’t think that being called a Zionist is an insult. I think that Zionism, the love of our Jewish homeland of Israel, and appreciation for our 3,500-year magnificent journey is a beautiful story of a persecuted yet indestructible people who achieved something seemingly impossible by returning home. If Roger Waters thinks that Zionism is a dirty word, I vehemently disagree. It’s simple Jewish nationalism for our homeland of Israel. Not only am I not ashamed, I’m extremely proud and proud to call myself a Zionist.”

He added that Waters’ charge of Israeli apartheid was an absurd accusation, noting that Israel’s Arab population enjoys full rights as citizens, pointing out that Israeli Arab citizens are members of Knesset, serve in the police and armed forces, and are doctors, lawyers, and judges.  

In response to his claims of Israel’s genocide, Adams pointed out that Gaza’s population has grown from 60,000 in 1947 to more than 2 million. “Hardly a genocide,” he noted.

Adams is not afraid

Adams’ team has reached out to British journalist Piers Morgan, host of Piers Morgan Uncensored, offering to debate Waters on the program, and says that Morgan is interested in hosting the two. “I’m very happy to debate him,” he said. “I’m not afraid of him or anyone else."

“He picked the wrong Jew to antagonize,” Adams noted. “It’s part of this global campaign of hatred of Israel and the Jewish people. We’re fighting back.”

Despite being targeted by antisemitic and pro-Palestinian groups, Adams says he remains committed to sponsoring a concert in Re’im after the war comes to an end. “I know I’m on the right side of history. As I like to say, we are fighting for civilization versus barbarism –  for right versus wrong.”