The musician was seen wearing a keffiyeh on his arm, a symbol commonly used to show support for Palestine.
In reponse, a representative of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said in a statement: “All performers are made aware of the rules of the contest, and we regret that Eric Saade chose to compromise the non-political nature of the event.”
Despite facing criticism for its decision not to exclude Israel and worldwide protests condemning the organizers’ choice, the competition maintained its stance.
“Politics does influence the event from time to time,” said Paul Jordan, a contest enthusiast and researcher who was part of its communications team from 2015 to 2018, in an interview with CNN.
However, he noted, “the presence of Israel has become such a big issue (that) I think it’s going to overshadow the event.”
The news comes during Israel’s seizure and closure of the Rafah crossing in Gaza, which has raised concerns that already-scarce food and medical supplies will be further depleted and lead to a “catastrophic” humanitarian disaster.
Typical no win situation. Can’t pick a side without being criticised, can’t not pick a side for the same reason.
Only thing that both the Israeli government and Hamas can agree on is that the Palestinian people is expendable.
You can’t claim to be non political and kick Russia out for invading Ukraine but let Israel stay in while committing genocide.
That in itself is a political statement.
Russia wasn’t kicked out for invading Ukraine, just to be clear. Russia was kicked out because they no longer have a free press, which is a requirement for participation.
You can call it a pretense if you want, but that’s the official reason, not the war.
They can pick the side not doing a genocide.
Hamas plans a genocide of Jews on one hand -without limited success so far, but not for a lack of trying- and actively helps with worsening the situation in Gaza on the other because they can use deaths there for their propaganda. Israel isn’t shy about killing as many Palestinians as possible either, because not reacting to Hamas terror isn’t an option, but any reaction will produce a negative reaction and tons of propaganda anyway. So why not go all in?
So which side are you talking about? The one commiting genocide or the genocidal one? No, Palestinian civilians are sadly not a valid side you can chose as they are de facto governed by Hamas in Gaza… unless you have a plan to separate one from the other somehow. Please then go on and tell the plan to world leaders unsuccessfully looking for such a solution for many, many years now.
Or in short: Pretending there are easy sides, with one being right and one wrong, is not a solution but indeed part of the problem.
Spoken like a true zionist bombing civilians because everyone on Gaza is Hamas. Specially children, journalists and aid workers.
Thank you for perfectly demonstrating my point. You are an idiot thinking this is a team sport, “your” side is right and everybody not sharing your exact opinion is wrong and the enemy.
And because everyone is the same on that “other side” I somehow become a zionist bombing civilians in your alternative world view, although I could impossibly qualify for that definition by any degree.
And also because everything on your side needs to be righteous you twist reality to fit your view. I explicitly asked how to effectively separate Palestinian civilians in Gaza from their de facto Hamas governmemnt. Yet somehow in your brain that question translated to the exact opposite of what I actually said: That somehow every civilan in Gaza is part of Hamas.
Seriously… how fucked up is your delusion that things you read instantly transform to mean something completely different, just so they fit the imaginary point you are trying to make?
Hamas values Palestinians way more than israel, at least they signed a ceasefire deal to try and stop raffah from being bombed, while Israel ignored it and started bombing any way.
Both sides all you want, but one side has been pushing for a ceasefire for months, returning the hostages for a permanent stop to the slaughter, and one side has been ignoring those calls to continue there genocide.
Hamas attacked Israel, counting on the response being disproportionate and bloody. They wanted dead Palestinians and the Israeli government complied.
Hamas aren’t the good guys here. Neither is the Israeli government, just to be clear.