Ten Finnish artists, who joined in the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in the past in some capacity signed an open letter calling on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to ban Israel from participating in the contest this year.
A total of 72 previous participants, who include songwriters, lyricists and other creatives from across Europe, in the letter accused Israel’s public broadcaster KAN of being “complicit in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza”.
“By continuing to platform the representation of the Israeli state, the EBU is normalising and whitewashing its crimes,” the artists said in the letter.
The letter comes as Iceland’s broadcaster has joined Slovenia and Spain in opposing Israel’s participation in Eurovision.
“I believe that the Israeli government has been and is inflicting genocide on the people of Palestine and for that reason Israel should be barred from competing in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest,” said Charlie McGettigan, who won the competition for Ireland in 1994.
The letter stated that last year’s decision to include KAN and granting “total impunity to the Israeli delegation while repressing other artists” made the 2024 edition “the most politicized and unpleasant in the competition’s history”. The result was “disastrous”, the letter said.
The signatories include Gåte, the Norwegian band derided by the Israeli broadcaster in 2024 as “sons and daughters of Amalek” (a biblical reference invoked by Benjamin Netanyahu in a televised call to destroy Palestinians in Gaza).
“We were there. We saw what happened. We spoke to the EBU about it,” Gåte said.
The letter accuses the EBU of double-standards regarding Israel. It points to the decision in 2022 to expel Russia’s public broadcaster, a decision which the EBU said was based on the rules of the event and the values of the broadcasting union.
“[It] can’t be one rule for Russia and a completely different rule for Israel. You bomb, you’re out,” said Thea Garrett, who represented Malta in 2010.
The letter signatories say they “refuse to allow music to be used to whitewash crimes against humanity” and they urge EBU to “act now and prevent further discredit and disruption to the festival”.
The Finnish artists who signed the petition are Anita Välimaa, Jukka Välimaa, Kaija Kärkinen, Kati Bergman, Linda Ilves, Outi Popp, Samuli Kosminen, Samuli Laine, Sanna Kojo and Timo Kiiskinen.
The contest will be held in Basel, Switzerland on May 17.
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
