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Israel’s place in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest has come under scrutiny following a petition signed by more than 1,400 Finnish music industry professionals calling for the song to be banned due to alleged “war crimes”.
The group says local broadcaster YLE will threaten to withdraw Finland’s entry if the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs Eurovision, does not take action, reflecting the situation in 2022 after Russia invades Ukraine. argues that it should. Signatories include Finnish artists Olavi Uusivirta, Paleface and Axel Enström, who represented Finland at Eurovision 2011 under the name Paradise Oscar. Icelandic musicians made a similar request to local network Rúv last month.
Lukas Korpelainen, the founder of the petition, told the local newspaper Hafvstadsbladet, “Israel violates human rights,” and “I think it’s good for this country to participate in song contests to improve its image.” I don’t think that’s the case,” he said.
The EBU has previously supported Israel, saying in December that Eurovision is “for broadcasters, not governments” and that Israel has been participating for 50 years.
However, the situation is unlikely to go away, and YLE’s head of communications told a local newspaper that the network was closely monitoring the situation in consultation with the EBU and other public broadcasters.
This pressure is reminiscent of 2022, when countries called for a ban on Russia and the EBU agreed soon after. Ukraine won that year’s contest, but the following year’s Eurovision had to be held in the UK due to the ongoing war. But YLE representatives have previously sought to draw a line between the Russo-Ukrainian war and Israel-Hamas, with Ville Willen recently saying, “Although gruesome, [Israel-Hamas] “This is not a war of aggression between nations, such as between Russia and Ukraine,” the BBC reported. YLE had not responded to Deadline’s requests for comment by press time, as did the EBU, Israeli Broadcasting Authority KAN, and Israel’s Ministry of Culture.
The war between Israel and Hamas has been going on for more than three months, with an estimated death toll of more than 23,000 people. In recent weeks, the international tide has turned against Israel as the Israeli military continues to bombard Gaza.
This year’s Eurovision will be held in Malmö. England will be represented by Years and Years’ Olly Alexander, but his move has been controversial. It’s a sin Starr recently signed a letter describing Israel as an “apartheid” state. In response, the anti-Semitic movement called for Alexander to be removed from his role as Britain’s Eurovision representative.