250 Artists Urge Joost Klein to Boycott Eurovision: Calls for Resistance Against Israel

A large number of people from the cultural sector, including Nasrdin Dchar, Ramsey Nasr, Najib Amhali and Tofik Dibi, have called on Joost Klein not to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. A total of 250 people signed a letter on the Dutch website of BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions). published letter headed “Do not participate in the festival of hypocrisy.” BDS is an international network that calls for resistance against Israel.

“While preparations for the Eurovision Contest are in full swing, one of the participating countries, Israel, carries out a genocide of 2.3 million Palestinians, imprisoned in Gaza for 17 years, deliberately starves them and keeps all borders closed to them” , can be read in the letter. Reference is also made to Klein’s song ‘Europapa’, in which he sings about “a world without borders”, a quote from Klein’s father. “Your father’s utopia does not exist for Palestinians,” the letter writers respond.

The pro-Palestinian organization BDS Netherlands and the Rotterdam Palestine Coalition are organizing a demonstration next Saturday for the AFAS Live in Amsterdam, where the Eurovision in Concert will take place. During this party, thirty of the 37 participating countries will perform with their entry. It is unclear whether Eden Golan, participant on behalf of Israel and who has now been threatened several times because of her participation, will also be there in Amsterdam.

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Swedish call for boycott

The Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Malmö, Sweden in four weeks. On Wednesday there were protests in that city against Israeli participation. In Sweden asked recently more than a thousand artists called for a boycott of Israel. Artists in neighboring countries Norway and Finland called on broadcasters not to broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest.

A boycott from the EBU, the European Broadcasting Union, is possible. Russia has not been allowed to participate in the event since 2022 due to the war in Ukraine. That exclusion followed calls from the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, among others, to ban Russia. Belarus has also not been allowed to participate since 2022.

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2024-04-12 16:52:14


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