don’t go to the Eurovision Song Contest because of Israel

ANPJoost Klein at the presentation of Europapa

NOS News•yesterday, 5:41 PM•Adjusted yesterday, 6:19 PM

Actors Nasrdin Dchar, Ramsey Nasr, Walid Benmbarek and comedian Najib Amhali ask Joost Klein not to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. They are among more than 250 artists, writers and artists who have signed a letter to the artist. Activist Jerry Afriyie and former MP Tofik Dibi also signed the letter. The reason for the call to Klein is Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The letter states, among other things: “While preparations for the Eurovision Contest are in full swing, one of the participating countries, Israel, is carrying out a genocide on 2.3 million Palestinians, locked up in Gaza for 16 years, deliberately starving them and keeps all borders closed to them.”

World without borders

The signatories of the letter also refer to the lyrics of the song European Pope. For example, Klein sings about a “world without borders”. The letter writers say that this does not apply to Palestinians.

They ask Joost Klein to consult himself. According to them, this is the time to side with justice and speak out.

A-political music festival

AVROTROS writes in response: “The horrors in Gaza touch us deeply. We also hope that there will be an immediate end to the suffering. However, the Eurovision Song Contest is an apolitical music festival and not a competition between the governments of countries. This is therefore not the place where this deep-rooted conflict can be resolved.”

The Eurovision Song Contest will be in the Swedish city of Malmö in four weeks. On Wednesday there were protests in that city against Israeli participation.

AFPProtest in Malmö against Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest

There is also resistance to Israel’s participation in other countries. In Finland, 1,300 musicians signed a petition against Israeli participation. In Norway, the broadcaster that broadcasts the Eurovision Song Contest was called on to put pressure on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to ban Israel.

Threats

The controversy surrounding Israel’s participation also leads to threats against singer Eden Golan, who is participating in the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Israel. The EBU released a statement on Monday in which the organization calls hate speech, threats and intimidation towards artists unacceptable.

According to the EBU, a decision on whether or not Israel should participate is “solely the responsibility of the EBU governing bodies and not that of individual artists.”

The organization of the Eurovision Song Contest can ban a country. Since 2022, Russia and Belarus have been banned from the Eurovision Song Contest by the EBU, after several European public broadcasters called for this following the invasion of Ukraine.