Withdrawal

Durch artists Najib Amhali and Nasrdin Dchar have called on Joost Klein to withdraw from his participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Over 250 people with a creative profession signed a letter calling for a boycott due to Israel’s participation.

“While preparations for the Eurovision Song Contest are in full swing, one of the participating countries, Israel, is carrying out a genocide of 2.3 million Palestinians,” the letter reads. Ramsey Nasr, Walid Benmbarek, Jerry Afriyie and Tofik Dibi also signed the letter.

The writers refer to Klein’s Eurovision song Europapa, in which he quotes his father. “It’s a world without borders,” Klein sings. “Your father’s utopia does not exist for Palestinians,” the letter writers respond. They “emphatically” ask Joost to consult himself about his participation in the event, which will take place in Sweden in May.

“The horrors in Gaza touch us deeply,” AVROTROS, the broadcaster responsible for the Dutch participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, responds to the call. “We also hope that there will be an immediate end to the suffering. But the Eurovision Song Contest is an apolitical music festival and not a competition between the governments of countries. This is therefore not the place where this deep-rooted conflict can be resolved.”

The pro-Palestinian organizations BDS Netherlands and Rotterdam Palestine Coalition are organizing a demonstration on Saturday just before Eurovision in Concert in Amsterdam’s AFAS Live. During this pre-party, 30 of the 37 participating countries will perform with their entry. The Israeli delegation is not present. The organization of the demonstration consists of Dutch volunteers and is not linked to the EBU, which organizes the Eurovision Song Contest. The organization previously announced that it feared reactions to the Israeli entry Eden Golan if it came to the concert.

The demonstration will take place on Saturday from 4:30 PM to 7:30 PM on the square between AFAS Live and the Johan Cruijff ArenA in Amsterdam. A similar event was also demonstrated in London last week. In several European countries, artists are being called on not to participate in an event where Israel is also welcome. Source: nu.nl