Call to boycott Eurovision as it allows Israel to participate in the festival
The organizers of Eurovision Song Contest, which this year will celebrate its number 68 en Malmö (Sweden), reiterated last Monday that Israel will be able to participate in the popular European song contest, despite recent calls from fans and musicians for it to be banned due to its current genocide in Gaza.
«We understand the concerns and deep beliefs about the current conflict in the Middle East, but we are committed to ensuring that the Eurovision Song Contest remains a non-political event, in which artists and broadcasters compete, not governments.«argued the organizers.
«Our governing bodies, led by the Executive Committee, reviewed the list of participants for the 2024 edition and agreed that Israeli public television KAN meets all competition rules for this year and can participate, as it has done for the past 50 years«, continues the statement.
The text adds that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organizing body of Eurovision, has aligned itself in this way with other entities in fields such as sports that have also maintained an open attitude towards Israeli participation in major competitions.
Iceland, Finland and Norway stand together
Several Nordic countries have called for a boycott of Israel and have been in favor of their countries not competing in Malmo si Israel it does.
In 2019, Iceland was fined for Eurovision because in that edition held in Tel Aviv the representation of the Nordic country in the contest—the musical band Hatari— will show the palestinian flag during voting.
Instead, Eurovision Yes, since 2022, he has vetoed the participation of Russia in the contest in response to their invasion of Ukraine, which caused the departure of Russian national television channels from the EBU.
Israel has been participating in the contest since 1973, and won the contest in 1978 (with the remembered song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi"), 1979, 1998 (the artist Dana International) and, more recently, in 2018, when Netta Barzilai won with Toy. Dana International, first trans artist to win Eurovision 25 years ago, he publicly defended his country's war against Israel in November and assured that not condemning Hamas it is "be against LGTBI, women and paz ».
1,000 musicians from host Sweden ask to exclude Israel
More than a thousand musicians from the host country signed an open letter to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) calling for Israel to be excluded for its “brutal war in Gaza".
The signatories maintain that, by allowing Israel to compete, the EBU “is displaying a notable double standard that undermines the credibility of the organization", and they remember that in 2022 Russia was excluded due to the invasion of Ukraine and in 2021, Belarus for violation of freedom of the press.
