Eurovision – on the wrong side of history

JVL introduction

PACBI (Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel) has issued a call for a boycott of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest because Israel has been allowed to participate while pursuing its genocidal campaign of collective punishment against the people of Gaza.

Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi reflects on the response from individuals and institutions.

We publish the PACBI-BDS boycott call below the blogpost.

NWI

“There is no moral or ethical way to watch Eurovision this year.”

This is how Guardian contributor Jeffrey Ingold, a fervent fan of the annual Eurovision song fest, described his attitude to the 2024 event in a comment piece published on March 11. He said allowing Israel to compete was an “outrageous decision [that] flies in the face of everything the song contest is designed to represent: peace, unity and cooperation…How can a country whose assault on Gaza has so far claimed more than 30,000 lives be allowed to compete?”

Ingold echoed the boycott call from PACBI in denouncing the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which has run the contest since its inception in 1956, for “double standards and glaring hypocrisy.” He wrote:

“Just one day after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine [in 2022], the EBU banned Russian participation, stating that “in light of the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine, the inclusion of a Russian entry … would bring the competition into disrepute.”

The Rio Cinema in Dalston, north London, declared that it will not this year be hosting the capital’s biggest Eurovision viewing party at the end of the contest taking place in Sweden in May, because of Israel’s involvement. Significantly, the cancellation was decided upon in collaboration with the organisers of the London event, Eurovision Party London.

Rio Cinema said in a statement on X, “Following discussion with the organizers of Eurovision Party London, we have collectively decided not to screen the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest this year while Israel remains in the competition. The Eurovision Party London has been a beloved partner of The Rio Cinema for many years, and we will continue to work with them in the future. We firmly believe that the Eurovision Song Contest has the power to bring people together across the world, and when its core values of inclusivity, equality and universality are upheld, it can be a genuine force for good. With its own slogan in mind, we hope that we can all be United By Music again soon.”

In February 2019 the Rio hosted a screening of the film Witchhunt , promoted by JVL, analysing the way antisemitism allegations were being used to suppress pro-Palestinian voices on the left of the Labour Party. Now that the abuse directed at people who speak out for Palestine is becoming yet more strident, threatening and widespread, the Rio is again taking a principled stand which shows it to be on the right side of history. They are also making a point of continuing to organise fundraising events for charities such as Doctors Without Borders and Medical Aid for Palestinians.

The EBU’s response to cancellation of the Eurovision London Party was to announce in a tortuous statement of self-justification from director general Noel Curran, that in Israel’s case there would be no ban. The statement said: “We can’t fail to be moved by the profound suffering of all those caught up in this terrible war” and “We are aware of the many voices calling to exclude Israel from this year’s competition in the same way as we excluded the Russian broadcaster in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine,” but because other international bodies were maintaining “their inclusive stance towards Israeli participants in major competitions at this time,” the EBU remains “committed to ensuring [Eurovision] remains a non-political event that continues to unite audiences worldwide through music.”

In effect, as long as Israel is allowed to commit its atrocities with impunity, the EBU will roll out the red carpet for its cultural ambassadors. It remains to be seen whether the slight shift in US policy in the United Nations Security Council on Monday will alter the EBU’s stance.

Eurovision controversy

The Eurovision Song Contest is (according to Guinness World Records) the longest-running annual international televised music competition on the planet. Originally intended as a contest between European broadcasting organisations, it has broadened its remit as more countries have been allowed to join the EBU. Israel has been competing since 1973.

The continuing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has affected the contest on numerous occasions, as have political  relations between Russia and Ukraine since the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the war in Donbas. Georgia withdrew from Eurovision in 2009 after its entrant was asked to amend song lyrics critical of Vladimir Putin.

Boycott mural in Girona, Catalonia, in 2019

Israel’s participation in the contest has discouraged some Arab states that are eligible to participate from doing so.  Morocco put in an appearance in 1980, when Israel withdrew from the contest due to it being held on the same night as Yom HaZikaron, the memorial day for fallen soldiers of Israel.

In 2019 Eurovision was staged in Israel,  provoking boycott calls and vocal opposition to Israeli “pinkwashing“.  The Icelandic entrants Hatari raised a Palestinian flag during voting in the final, resulting in a fine being imposed on Icelandic broadcaster RÚV.

Although Palestine, unlike Israel, has never had the chance to enter Eurovision, Palestinian singer Bashar Murad came close to competing this year, representing Iceland. He has collaborated with Hatari in the past. The country has launched an inquiry into possible voting irregularities after Murad failing to qualify.

He is originally from East Jerusalem and is known for addressing themes of the Israeli occupation through his music. The video he made for his Eurovision entry, Wild West, features watermelons, symbols of Palestinian resistance.

The board of the Icelandic Society of Authors and Composers (FTT) called on RUV in December not to take part in Eurovision unless “Israel is denied participation in the competition on the same grounds as Russia in the last competition,” FTT’s General Director Stefan Eiriksson said in a letter to RUV, “We all have a duty to take a stand against war and the killing of civilians and innocent children.”

This year Israel’s song entry had its lyrics changed because they were deemed to be too political to qualify for the competition. But the EBU has resisted excluding it from competing despite widespread support for the boycott call.

Canada’s CBC News reported: “Thousands of artists in [the host country] Sweden, Finland and Iceland have signed letters and petitions calling for Israel to be banned, and an Irish petition demanding the same thing has more than 16,000 signatures.”

Belgium’s French-speaking Culture Minister Benedicte Linard and Flemish counterpart Benjamin Dalle added their voices to those of other European politicians who wrote to the EBU saying Israel’s participation “whitewashes a regime that is carrying out ethnic cleansing in Palestine and committing war crimes and genocide”.

Not everyone appreciates the case for excluding Israel.

The Mail Online has found a circuitous route into an attack on London’s Rio Cinema, implying that it is somehow antisemitic for it to object to Israel’s war on Gaza because: “the picture house was founded by a Jewish businesswoman.”

It quotes the Campaign Against Antisemitism saying: ‘This decision is a disgrace to the founding and heritage of the Rio Cinema’ which the Mail reports is an art-deco venue created by Clara Ludski in 1909.

Lance Forman, a former London MEP, accused the cinema bosses of being ‘racist’, adding: ‘We thought you were progressive not fascists.’

In February the organisation Creative Community For Peace, which campaigns against cultural boycotts of Israel, marshalled a long list of artists to sign a letter alleging that calling for Israel’s exclusion turns Eurovision “from a celebration of unity into a tool of politics.” “We believe that unifying events such as singing competitions are crucial to help bridge our cultural divides and unite people of all backgrounds through their shared love of music,” the letter said.

The response from the Palestinian BDS movement is clear. ”Providing cultural cover for Israel’s mass slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians, almost half of whom are children, would amount to enabling and covering up war crimes and crimes against humanity.” A shared love of music can’t rebuild hundreds of thousands of shattered lives.

The PACBI Call, January 25, 2024 – Boycott Eurovision 2024 over genocidal Israel’s participation

We urge all participating broadcasters, national competitors, finalists, production crews, and viewers to boycott the contest following the refusal of the organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), to ban genocidal Israel.

Palestinians call on supporters to launch creative, strategic initiatives that can pressure broadcasters to withdraw, and appeal to all participants to refuse to be complicit in the EBU’s whitewash of apartheid Israel’s genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.

Venues and events organisers planning Eurovision screening parties should refuse to do so, and instead hold Apartheid-Free or Genocide-Free alternative Eurovision events, including teach-ins/workshops/panels about Israel’s cynical pinkwashing and artwashing.

Accountability for Israel’s genocide and apartheid is urgently needed. Providing cultural cover for Israel’s mass slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians, almost half of whom are children, would amount to enabling and covering up war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The BDS Call, March 2, 2024

The contest has refused to ban Israel despite its genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza

PACBI and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate had called on Eurovision organisers, the EBU, to ban Israel – just as Russia was banned for its illegal invasion of Ukraine – or face widespread boycotts. The EBU has instead doubled down on its shameful, hypocritical complicity in Israel’s genocide.

Participating in Eurovision for Israel is “a dream, in particular this year, when it has even more meaning.” Since October 2023, Israel has murdered more than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including at least 12,300 children, and injured a further 70,000.

Understanding the contest’s propaganda value, particularly in the time of genocide, the Israeli president Isaac Herzog says, “it’s important for Israel to appear in Eurovision.” At the International Court of Justice, South Africa cited his assertion that Palestinians are “an entire nation out there that is responsible” as evidence of Israel’s genocidal intent.

Apartheid Israel’s Eurovision contestant is clear that appearing in the contest is an important opportunity to artwash Israel’s ongoing genocide – in other words, “to show the whole world who we really are.”

The so-called “Creative Community for Peace” – front group for far-right Israel lobby organisation StandWithUs – recently falsified at least one signature on its letter supporting Israel’s participation in Eurovision, exposing its fraudulent, genocide-defending approach.

By contrast, many artists, politicians and people across Europe have called for Israel’s exclusion from Eurovision. Contestants in many countries have already joined the calls. We call on everyone who envisages a more just and peaceful world to boycott the 2024 Eurovision festival of hypocrisy.