JJP lobbies the Eurovision Song Contest

We are writing to you as a 2500-strong Jewish organisation in the UK.We are dismayed by the fact that Israel is set to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest, despite its recent and current behaviour.

We have written to you and/or the EBU twice over the past 2 weeks – but have received no response or acknowledgement. We assume that, for some reason, our emailed messages never arrived.

We urge you, even at this very late stage, to reconsider allowing their participation on several very specific grounds:

(1)

(a) that, unprovoked, Israel attacked Iran.

(b) that Israel’s attacks on Lebanon have been totally disproportionate.

(c) that Israel’s war on Gaza (which killed well over 70,000 people) was also totally disproportionate. (the true total is likely to be much higher. Indeed only yesterday[10 May], Britain’s Sky News broadcast an investigation: https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/global-affairs/40000-missing-or-trapped-beneath-rubble-in-the-gaza-strip/video/6a95ee928331e59a1b68d418310dcf91

(d) that Israel has been officially recognised (by the UN and the International Criminal Court) as having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. Indeed, the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Israeli Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.

(e) that the United Nations “Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, has concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. What’s more, the International Court of Justice is also considering accusations by 16 countries (including 5 European ones: Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Iceland and The Netherlands) that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.

(f) that Israel is illegally occupying the West Bank and Gaza – the territory of the State of Palestine, as now recognised by 14 EU countries – and 141 other countries. In total around 80% of all UN members have now recognised Palestine.

(g) that Israel has hinted that it intends to relaunch its terrible war against Gaza. Israel’s Channel 14 reported on 19 April that Israeli forces were preparing to resume war in Gaza “as early as next month [May].” And, following the 8 April US/Iran ceasefire, the Israeli Prime Minister stated that Israel would now “focus on Hamas,” thus hinting at a potential return to the war in Gaza. Regarding Iran, Israel’s Defence Minister has said that the Israeli army is waiting for a “green light” from the U.S. to resume its war against Iran, saying that “this time the attack will be different and deadly” and would send Iran back to the “age of darkness and stone”.

(h) That Russia has been banned from the Eurovision Song Contest – and that the EBU should be consistent, as Israel’s and Russia’s behaviour are tragically similar (war crimes, illegal occupations, etc).

(2)

If Israel has a right to participate in the European Song Contest, so should Palestine.

Quite apart from the arguments above (in Part 1 of this e-mail), it would be very wrong for Israel to be permitted to participate – because it has done everything it can (politically, diplomatically, etc) in the United Nations, in the EBU and almost certainly also in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to prevent the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) becoming a full member of the EBU and thus being able to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. Israel’s actions to keep Palestine out of the contest have been long-term and consistent. But we think that the EBU has a duty to act fairly and impartially. By allowing one state (which has effectively blocked another state from participating) to itself participate is not fair or impartial. It suggests that the EBU is, even inadvertently, acting in a politically partisan way.

We hope that you will be able to urgently consider the serious arguments we have laid out above.

Looking forward to hearing from you – and to learning what current and future actions regarding Israel and Palestine, of any sort, you intend to take or consider, in the the light of our arguments.

Thank you for reading this note,

Yours sincerely,

David Keys
d.keys@virgin.net