No Music For Genocide and the BDS Movement have issued an open letter calling on artists, broadcasters and fans to boycott this year’s Eurovision because of the continuing participation of Israel.
Back in December the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) decided that Israel would be allowed to participate in the 2026 event, despite the ongoing war in Gaza, which many have deemed a genocide.
This prompted a number of nations to pull out, including Spain, Iceland, The Netherlands, Slovenia and Ireland. However, the EBU has remained unmoved and the event will go ahead as planned in Vienna on May 16.
Signees of the letter include Brian Eno, Massive Attack, Paul Weller, Kneecap, Hot Chip, IDLES, Primal Scream, Young Fathers, Nadine Shah, David Holmes, Dry Cleaning, Peter Gabriel, Of Monsters And Men, Paloma Faith and Mogwai.
(Which is all well and good, but none of those artists - with the possible exception of Paloma Faith - would ever, in a month of Sundays, be selected to represent their respective nations at Eurovision. However, wouldn't it be a giggle if they were...?)
The letter calls on the EBU to apply the same rules as they did when they kicked Russia out of Eurovision after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It says the signees: “reject Eurovision being used to whitewash and normalise Israel’s genocide, siege and brutal military occupation against Palestinians.”
“We stand in solidarity with Palestinian calls for public broadcasters, performers, screening party organisers, crew, and fans to boycott Eurovision until the EBU bans complicit Israeli broadcaster KAN.”
No Music For Genocide is a cultural boycott initiative that was launched last year. It has over 1000 members who have all removed their music from all platforms in Israel. Its supporters include many of the artists listed above, as well as Lorde, Bjork, Hayley Williams, Wolf Alice, Clairo and Faye Webster.
Kneecap, who, as you know, got into legal trouble last year for their vociferous support of the Palestinian cause, have issued a statement to accompany the letter: "Russia was banned from Eurovision in 2022.
"Israel has been murdering Palestinians for decades and is now committing genocide - and for the third year running, they're welcomed back onto the stage. That's not neutrality. That's a choice.”
“We stand with No Music for Genocide and every artist, fan and broadcaster who refuses to let the world's biggest music event be used to whitewash genocide. No stage for genocide. Free Palestine”.
