Over 70 former Eurovision participants have signed an open letter calling for the ban of Israel and its national broadcaster, Kan, from this year’s song contest.
The group of signatories, including British artist Mae Muller, Ireland’s 1994 Eurovision champion Charlie McGettigan, and Portuguese singer Fernando Tordo, appealed to the European Broadcasting Union to bar Israel from the contest, citing the country’s “genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and the decades-long regime of apartheid and military occupation against the entire Palestinian people.”
The letter cites the ongoing conflict in the region, which, according to the health ministry, has resulted in the deaths of over 50,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Tensions that had built over decades intensified on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants launched a deadly assault on an Israeli music festival, killing nearly 1,200 people.
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