More than 400 celebrities and entertainment figures signed, including Gene Simmons, Helen Mirren, Boy George and music executive Scooter Braun has written an open letter supporting Israel’s entry into the Eurovision Song Contest this year, calling for a boycott due to the Israel-Gaza war.
The letter, organized by the non-profit Creative Communities for Peace, which works against the cultural boycott of Israel, reads: “We believe that unifying events such as singing competitions are important in helping to bridge our cultural divides and work together through shared The values that unite people of different backgrounds are vital. The love of music.
“Those who call for the exclusion of Israel are subverting the spirit of the contest and turning it from a celebration of unity into a political tool.”
Signatories also included actors Thema Blair, Mayim Bialik, Ginnifer Goodwin, Liev Schreiber, Julianna Margulies, Amy Rossum and Debra Messing.
A month ago, more than 2,000 musicians in Finland, Iceland and this year’s host Sweden each signed an open letter calling for Israel to be banned from the competition due to the ongoing war in Gaza.
Signatories of the Finnish letter called on Finnish broadcaster Yle to boycott Eurovision and refuse to send contestants if Israel is not excluded from the competition in Malmo in May.
“It is inconsistent with our values for a country that has committed war crimes and continues military occupation to provide a public stage to burnish its image in the name of music,” the open letter, published in January, read.
In response to the letter, a Eurovision spokesperson told The Guardian that the song contest “remains a non-political event”.
“The Eurovision Song Contest is a competition for public service broadcasters in Europe and the Middle East. It is a competition for broadcasters, not governments, and the Israeli public broadcaster has been participating in this competition for 50 years,” they said.
The statement said Israeli public broadcaster Kan “complies with all competition rules” and will be able to participate in Malmö. Israel will be represented by singer Eden Golan.
Responding to calls for a Eurovision ban, Israel’s ambassador to Sweden, Ziv Nevo Kulman, said: “Pushing for a boycott of Israel is an act of support for Hamas, a prize for terrorism, and a conflict with Israel.” ‘s values are incompatible.” [European Broadcasting Union] And the situation of the game. “
But some countries have been excluded from the Eurovision Song Contest in the past. In 2022, organizers banned Russia from the event, saying that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would “bring the event into disrepute.”
Israel launched an attack on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas militants killed about 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostage. Israeli forces have killed at least 28,000 people, displaced more than 85 percent of the Palestinian population and reduced more than half of Gaza’s infrastructure to rubble.
CCFP has previously campaigned for Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. When Israel won the hosting rights in 2019, hundreds of prominent cultural figures called for a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest, and the CCFP compiled a petition in support of the country with 11,200 signatures, including many of the signatories of CCFP’s most recent letter. The 2019 Eurovision Song Contest takes place as scheduled in Tel Aviv.
