Finnish musician calls for Israel to be excluded from Eurovision song content over Gaza
Finnish musicians say the country’s public broadcaster should pressure the European Broadcasting Union to exclude Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest.
Finland has won the Eurovision Song Contest once in 2006. [file photo-Rob Pinney/Getty]
Finnish musicians and music industry professionals have signed a petition calling for Israel to be excluded from the Eurovision Song Contest due to the “totally unsustainable” situation in the Gaza Strip.
They signed a petition calling for Finnish public broadcasting eli radio oi Finnish media has reported pressure on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to exclude Israel from the competition over the bloody war in Gaza.
Failing that, they are known as Broadcasters, more commonly known by their acronym. Yellpetition signers said the competition should be boycotted.
According to Finnish media, around 1,200 people have signed the petition, but the authenticity of the signatures could not be confirmed.
Finnish musician and petition activist Timo Kalainen spoke to Finnish media. Helsingin Sanomat It argued that Israel’s participation in the contest was inappropriate given the “totally unsustainable” situation in the Gaza Strip.
“For me, Eurovision represents the European community, peace, love, tolerance and equality. Israel does not deserve the chance to shine its shield in this situation,” Kalainen said in a Facebook post.
In December, Icelandic musicians also called for Israel to be excluded from the conflict over the Gaza war, which has so far killed more than 23,000 people.
The petition pointed out that Russia was expelled from the competition in 2022 for its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia was banned from competing in the competition in 2022 because of its invasion of Ukraine, but the EBU quickly rejected Iceland’s request, saying Eurovision was “for the broadcaster, not the government.”
Yell A senior YLE staff member said a similar request was made in December, when Icelandic artists made the call.
Yell Ville Willen, head of creative content and media, said the broadcaster was “deeply concerned and deplored by what is happening in Gaza” but said it could not treat it in the same way as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said he couldn’t do it.
“We are not reacting in the same way to the situation in Russia. From our point of view, the conflict in Gaza has been going on for a long time, albeit gruesome, and Russia has not attacked other areas. “This is different from an independent European state,” Vilen was quoted as saying at the time.
The Eurovision Song Contest is usually held in May each year.
Irish public broadcaster RTE Irish media reported earlier this week that hundreds of calls have been received to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest because of Israel’s involvement in the contest. .