- cross-posted to:
- eurovision
- cross-posted to:
- eurovision
The musician was seen wearing a keffiyeh on his arm, a symbol commonly used to show support for Palestine.
In reponse, a representative of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said in a statement: “All performers are made aware of the rules of the contest, and we regret that Eric Saade chose to compromise the non-political nature of the event.”
Despite facing criticism for its decision not to exclude Israel and worldwide protests condemning the organizers’ choice, the competition maintained its stance.
“Politics does influence the event from time to time,” said Paul Jordan, a contest enthusiast and researcher who was part of its communications team from 2015 to 2018, in an interview with CNN.
However, he noted, “the presence of Israel has become such a big issue (that) I think it’s going to overshadow the event.”
The news comes during Israel’s seizure and closure of the Rafah crossing in Gaza, which has raised concerns that already-scarce food and medical supplies will be further depleted and lead to a “catastrophic” humanitarian disaster.
You are of course right, both sides have done terrible things to each other. For over 100 years. Many Zionist immigrants and later Israelis have been victims of Palestinian violence. And throughout all that time, there have always been at least 10 times more Palestinians who have fallen victim to Zionist violence.
But yes, when two groups lay claim to the same piece of land, then hatred and violence ensue, including blind violence against civilians, because people can be really shitty, we know that.
But there is also the question of who is in the right in this conflict, whose claim to the land is more valid. In my sense of justice, in this conflict the Palestinians are the natives who should have owned the land from the start.
And the Zionists immigrated to Palestine with the declared aim of establishing their own Jewish state there. And like real Europeans of the time, they gave practically no thought to what the people living there thought about it.
I think we have to keep in mind that, regardless of the violence, the Palestinians have been subjected to terrible injustice for over 100 years by the Zionists, by Israel and by their European allies around the world.
I disagree.
So, whose arbitrarily picked amount of years to look back in time and say “see, our people were there first” are we following?
Massacring and forcibly evicting an existing population to create an ethnostate, which then subjugates the previous inhabitants under an apartheid regime, is generally seen as a “not very nice” thing to do. To suggest that territorial disputes can only be resolved through war is unimaginative, ignorant, and flatly incorrect.
Your question is unimportant because ethnostates and the forcible acquisition of territory are always fundamentally unjust.
A civilian population is being brutalized right now. The killing must stop for there to be any reconciliation.