Police hold back pro-Palestinian protesters in Malmö, where Israel's entry into the Eurovision Song Contest has reached the final. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT/Reuters
Rishi Sunak condemns pro-Palestinian protests at the Eurovision Song Contest as “outrageous”.
Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters are preparing to demonstrate against Israel's inclusion in the Eurovision Song Contest Sweden on Saturday amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
Eden Golan, the 20-year-old Israeli contestant, has become the subject of controversy as rising tensions over her inclusion escalated and spilled onto the streets of Malmö, the 2024 Eurovision host city.
Around the world, including in the UK , activists called on fans to boycott the annual singing competition this year as the Golan reached Saturday's final.
Eden Golan represents Israel with the song Hurricane Photo: Tobias Schwartz/AFP
But Mr Sunak condemned protests against Israel's participation as “wrong” and calls for a boycott as “unfair”.
Press The prime minister's secretary said he would urge those calling for a boycott to consider “Israelis and also Jews around the world who love Eurovision and their feelings” after seeing Thursday's demonstrations.
Asked for Mr Sunak's views on the Eurovision protests, No 10's spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister believes these protests are wrong and some of the scenes we have seen are outrageous.”
“We share deep looks. concerns about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and we raise this issue regularly.
“When it comes to the Eurovision debate and these protests, we are incredibly mindful of the Israelis, as well as Jews around the world, who love Eurovision and their feelings, seeing this after a brutal terrorist attack and while hostages are still being held. by Hamas.
“He will urge people to take this into account when he repeats these unjust calls for a boycott,” she added.
Its security in the Golan is personally overseen by the head of the Israeli security agency, as Malmö was besieged by more than 10,000 pro-Palestinian protesters demanding her exclusion from the competition.
Ronen Bar, head of Israel's Shin Bet agency, flew to Sweden to oversee security arrangements for the Golan and the rest of the Israeli delegation.
This comes as disagreements between event organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and participants over the issue have reached a breaking point.
Ireland's action is non-binary. Singer Bambi Thug broke down in tears while speaking to reporters on Friday as the singer revealed she and her team cried as Israel advanced to the grand final.
“It stole the show,” Thug, whose real name is Bambi Ray Robinson, said of Israel’s inclusion while wearing a symbolic pro-Palestinian keffiyeh around his neck.
“It goes against everything Eurovision was supposed to be. “, they added: “And this is a large community, and their member was never allowed to even meet us – God forbid that we talked a little and the opinion might change.”
” So this is definitely puts a cloud over him.”
Their comments follow Finland's former Eurovision entrant insisting he does not “approve” of Israel's participation in this year's competition after a video emerged of him dancing with Golan.
Finnish singer Jere Mikael Pöyhönen, known professionally as Kyäräria, was filmed performing a friendly performance with the Israeli singer, but after the apparent backlash he said: “I would like to clarify and emphasize that the video is not a political statement or endorsement of any kind.”
The nine-second video shows the couple performing the Finnish performer's “Cha-cha-cha” dance routine from last year's competition, before laughing and high-fiving in front of the camera.
Behind the scenes controversy
Meanwhile, Dutch contestant Joost revealed that Klein is under investigation by the EBU after an unsolved incident prevented him from performing at the dress rehearsal on Friday.
It is unclear what happened, but he was unable to rehearse his song Europapa after his equipment was removed from the stage at the last minute and an Israeli contestant took the stage instead to rehearse.
The EBU said: “We are currently investigating an incident reported to us involving a Dutch artist. He won't be rehearsing until further notice.”
Talking about the incident that is believed to have happened backstage during rehearsal, Thug said: “It was very intense, I was actually dozing off when it all went down.” recession, so I woke up to a change in the atmosphere.
“But it's an incredibly tense atmosphere, and frankly, I don't think anyone involved likes it.”
This followed Klein's petulant retort during Golan's questions at the press conference that followed right after this. semi-final on Thursday, in which she was asked whether her participation in the competition posed a “risk and danger” to other participants.
After event organizers told her she did not have to answer the question, – loudly Klein intervened, asking, “Why not?”
He then proceeded to listen to Golan's answer, crossing his arms and closing his eyes, while Greek contestant Marina Satti was seen pretending to sleep and yawning while Golan spoke.
The organizers' decision to allow Israel to participate in the competition and keeping it “non-political” (with a strict rule prohibiting the use of Palestinian flags in the arena or during performances) created a clear division between the other participants and the organization.
Saturday's grand final descended further into chaos as the press -a conference of the Big Five plus Sweden, including Olly Alexander as a UK participant, was canceled at the eleventh hour after controversy.
The EBU blamed the fact that “all the artists want to concentrate on rehearsals” for last-minute cancellation.
The fallout from Israel's participation in the run-up to the final continued to cast a shadow over what are traditionally Europe's biggest parties. .
The final of the Eurovision Song Contest will air on BBC1 on Saturday at 20:00.
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