Palestine artists in Gaza urge Eurovision boycott

Palestinian artists have called on contestants taking part in Eurovision “to boycott the international music competition that Israel is hosting next week”, reported Al Jazeera.

According to the Palestinian Artists Association, based in the occupied Gaza Strip, Israel is using the event to “perpetuate oppression, promote injustice or whitewash a brutal apartheid regime”.

In the statement published yesterday, the artists cited the killing of more than 60 Palestinians by Israeli forces during protests in Gaza along the perimeter fence on 14 May last year, “the same day Israel won the Eurovision”.

READ: Israel’s Eurovision flop

The association also held a sit-in outside the European Union’s Gaza office and wrote a letter of protest.

Numerous artists and cultural figures have already urged a boycott of this year’s Israeli-hosted Eurovision, including Roger Waters – who wrote an open letter to Madonna, asking her to cancel her planned performance at the event – as well as British personalities such as Vivienne Westwood, Peter Gabriel and Mike Leigh – who have asked the BBC to cancel its coverage.

The calls to boycott Eurovision have also come from the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which since 2005 has called for and coordinated a global, civil-society led anti-apartheid campaign. The boycott includes economic, academic and cultural elements.