2024-01-30 17:41:33
Israel’s announced participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, which takes place in May in Malmö (Sweden), is on track to mark this 68th edition of the veteran public television song contest. 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.”
In the letter, published on Monday in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, the signatories maintain that, by allowing Israel to compete, the EBU “is showing a notable double standard that undermines the credibility of the organization,” and recalls that in 2022 Russia was excluded due to the invasion of Ukraine and in 2021 Belarus was not admitted due to violation of press freedom.
The letter follows a similar request from 1,400 artists in Finland, and appeals in Iceland and Norway. The EBU insists that Israel will participate because the festival “is a contest for television, not governments,” and because it is “an apolitical event.” Icelandic public television, RÚV, said the decision to participate this year will be made by the winner of its national team.
“The fact that countries that are above humanitarian law are welcome to participate in international cultural events trivializes violations of international law and makes the suffering of victims invisible,” argue the signatories of the Swedish letter, including Robyn & Fever Ray, the duo First Aid Kit, and two former representatives of Sweden in Eurovision, Erica Saade and Malena Ernman, the latter mother of climate activist Greta Thunberg.
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