Artists and musicians in Sweden, Iceland and Finland had petitioned the European Broadcasting Union to exclude Israel over its atrocities in Gaza


Israel can compete in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, organisers confirmed on Thursday, again rejecting calls for it to be excluded over the Gaza war like Russia was after invading Ukraine.

On Wednesday, a group of 400 celebrities including British actress Helen Mirren, British singer Boy George and former Kiss frontman Gene Simmons published an open letter supporting Eurovision’s decision to maintain Israel’s participation.

The letter was issued in response to petitions calling for Israel to be kicked out of the world’s biggest live music event, which is being held in Malmo, Sweden, in May.

Approached by AFP, the European Broadcasting Union said it had conducted a review and decided late last year that Israel could participate in the kitsch annual pop extravaganza.

“The Eurovision Song Contest is a non-political music event and a competition between public service broadcasters who are members of the EBU. It is not a contest between governments,” EBU director general Noel Curran said, reiterating a statement made in January.

read more: https://www.newarab.com/news/eurovision-confirms-israel-can-compete

  • @Viking_Hippie
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    9 months ago

    On Wednesday, a group of 400 celebrities including British actress Helen Mirren, British singer Boy George and former Kiss frontman Gene Simmons published an open letter supporting Eurovision’s decision to maintain Israel’s participation.

    First of all, fuck those 3 with rusty rail spikes for their genocide denial and active support for the fascist apartheid regime committing it. They’re dead to me.

    Second of all, does anyone have a list of the other 397 hateful or at the very least wilfully ignorant beasts?

    Edit: found it myself in this awful Variety article celebrating the letter

    • treeOP
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      89 months ago

      This is a list of nobodies lmao, they really couldn’t do better than this?