Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba on Thursday penned a letter to the European Broadcasting Union demanding the expulsion of Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest.
The letter was co-written by Agius Saliba and Slovenian MEPS Mattias Nemec and Irena Joveva as Israel continues its siege on Gaza.
“In light of over a year and a half of Israeli atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank, persistent human rights violations, and severe breaches of international law - including continued war crimes without accountability - we believe the EBU must act to uphold its mission and values, while also protecting the integrity of the competition,” the letter states.
The MEPs insist that Israel’s continued participation contradicts the EBU’s aims of solidarity and cooperation in broadcasting.
They noted that appeals to exclude Israel last year were disregarded, sparking controversy that resulted in the expulsion of the Netherlands’ entry, the banning of EU flags from the final, and heightened security risks to both organisers and attendees.
By ignoring the appeals and insisting that banning Israel would politicise Eurovision, the EBU had achieved the opposite and further politicised the event, the MEPs claimed.
“The EBU must not allow such events to repeat themselves. It is of the utmost importance the EBU excludes Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest. Otherwise, the EBU will continue to be complicit in the perpetuation and impunity of war crimes and the ongoing lack of accountability for an internationally condemned military campaign - one that has already claimed the lives of more than 50,000 innocent civilians.
The MEPs noted that the EBU had suspended Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, citing the need to uphold the values of public service media.
“Yet, despite overwhelming evidence of war crimes and warnings of genocide, Israel continues to enjoy full access to one of Europe’s most prominent cultural stages,” they wrote.
The 69th edition of the Eurovision song contest semi-finals are set to take place in Basel, Switzerland on May 13 and 15, before the final on May 17.
Israel’s entry by Yuval Raphael this year is titled New Day Will Rise. The 24-year old singer from central Israel survived the Nova music festival massacre on October 7, 2023 by hiding in a shelter among dead bodies, pretending to be dead.