Israel’s Place At Eurovision Song Contest Challenged By Petition From Finnish Music Community

Max Goldbart
·2-min read

Israel’s place at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest is under the microscope following a petition signed by more than 1,400 Finnish music industry professionals urging a ban due to alleged “war crimes.”

Echoing the state of play in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, the group says that local broadcaster YLE should threaten to pull Finland’s entry if the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs Eurovision, doesn’t take action. Signatories include Finnish artists Olavi Uusivirta, Paleface and Axel Ehnström, who represented Finland in Eurovision 2011 under the name Paradise Oskar. Icelandic musicians made similar demands to local network Rúv last month.

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Lukas Korpelainen, the initiator of the petition, said to local paper Hufvudstadsbladet that “Israel violates human rights” and “we don’t think it’s okay for the country to be part of the Song Contest to polish its image.”

The EBU has previously backed Israel, stating in December that Eurovision is “for broadcasters – not for governments” and that Israel has taken part for 50 years.

But the situation looks unlikely to go away and YLE’s head of communications told a local newspaper that the network is following the situation closely, while talking to the EBU and other public broadcasters.

The pressure has echoes of 2022, when nations urged a ban on Russia, which was agreed by the EBU soon after. Ukraine won the contest that year but the following year’s Eurovision had to take place in the UK due to the ongoing war. A YLE representative has, however, previously sought to draw a line between the Russia-Ukraine War and Israel-Hamas, with Ville Vilén saying recently, “As gruesome as it is, [Israel-Hamas] is not a war of inter-state aggression like between Russia and Ukraine,” according to the BBC. YLE had not responded to Deadline’s comment request by press time, neither had the EBU, Israeli broadcaster Kan or Israel’s Culture Ministry.

The Israel-Hamas war has been raging for more than three months now, with estimates placing the death toll at more than 23,000. In recent weeks, and as Israeli forces have continued bombarding Gaza, the tide of the international community has turned against Israel.

This year’s Eurovision will take place in Malmo. The UK will be represented by Years and Years’ Ollie Alexander but that move has proved controversial as the It’s a Sin star recently signed a letter describing Israel as an “apartheid” state. In response, the Campaign Against Antisemitism said Alexander should be fired from his role as the UK’s Eurovision representative.

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