Eurovision Under Fire for Allowing Israel to Compete Amid Gaza Crisis
Many people are angry and want to boycott Eurovision for letting Israel join the contest next year. Israel is among the contestants who will compete in Sweden in 2024, which has sparked outrage because of the Israel-Hamas war that is still going on. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNWRA (via euronews), says that almost 1.9million people – more than 85 per cent of Gaza’s population – have lost their homes. Many people have expressed their displeasure on social media.
One person said: “I’m 100% boycotting Eurovision because they decided to include Israel and Azerbaijan despite their atrocities and crimes against humanity. What a nasty organization.”
Another person said: “If you think the world will watch as you whitewash Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, you’re mistaken.” There is also a petition started by one person who wants Israel to be kicked out. The Times Of Israel reports that The Association of Composers and Lyricists in Iceland wants their country to withdraw from the Eurovision contest next year unless Israel is not allowed to join.
They say they have “a duty to take a stand against war and the murder of civilians and innocent children.”
In 2019, Iceland’s Eurovision entry, Hatari showed a Palestinian flag during the show, which broke the rules of the contest and led to a penalty from the organisers.
But the European Broadcasting Union said in a statement that they are not planning to ban Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest.
They said: “The Eurovision Song Contest is a competition for public broadcasters from all over Europe and the Middle East. It is a contest for broadcasters – not for governments – and the Israeli public broadcaster has been participating in the contest for 50 years.
“The EBU is a member-led organisation. The EBU’s governing bodies – led by the Board of Directors – represent the members. These bodies assessed the list of participants and decided that the Israeli public broadcaster complies with all competition rules. Together with 36 other broadcasters, it will be able to participate in the competition next year.”
They said their decision was based on how other international organisations treat Israel.
They said: “At the moment, there is an inclusive attitude towards Israeli participants in major competitions. The Eurovision Song Contest remains a non-political event, uniting audiences worldwide through music.”
This happens even though Russia was banned from the contest last year after they invaded Ukraine.
When people compared Israel being in the contest and Russia being banned, the EBU said: “In 2022, following the invasion of Ukraine, the EBU’s governing bodies decided to exclude Russia from the Eurovision Song Contest, where they were to compete alongside Ukraine. As said before, the Eurovision Song Contest is a competition for broadcasters. After repeated violations of membership obligations and violation of the values of the public media, Russia was suspended.”
Russia also recently added the Ukrainian singer, Jamala, who won the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest to their wanted list.