Pro-Palestinian Protests Escalate at Eurovision Over Israel’s Participation | Latest Updates
More Pro-Palestinian protests are heating up with the list of finalist in the Eurovision in the finals, after Israel’s advancement in the competition.
Eden Golan, 20, won the semi-final at the Malmö Arena on Thursday evening. Her emotional song Hurricane was reworked from a previous track titled October Rain. This song is related to the context of Hamas’s attack on Israel. The song lit the stadium.
After this win, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulate this young lady. PM Netanyahu said that he was proud of the young Israeli star.
Although reaction to the song outside of Israel has not been favorable, British PM Rishi Sunak said that this presentation and performance using the song is “wrong”.
A spokeswoman for the British PM House called for a boycott of Israel because of the unfair methods used.
Another source reported that a large crowd of 12,000 people who were pro-Palestinian protesters marched peacefully through Malmö on Thursday. The street protest was attended by demonstrators who were unhappy with Israel’s participation in Eurovision amid the conflict in Gaza.
They walked through the streets of Malmö from Stortorget to Mölleplatsen and also included Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and peacefully recorded their reaction against Israel.
Swedish police authorities said they warned some people about disturbing public order and arrested one man from the rally because he was carrying a knife and tools in his bag.
“The Prime Minister thinks that these protests are wrong and some of the scenes we’ve seen have been outrageous.”- a spokeswoman of UK authorities said.
She also said that the UK is concerned about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza but the UK PM also respects Jews Israelis and people who like Eurovision.
She further said in his statement that the UK PM knows the value of preachy protest but the call for boycott is not appropriate at all.
Alexander and Bambi, along with other Eurovision artists, issued a joint statement in March supporting an “immediate and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza, but declined to boycott the event.
