{"id":111911,"date":"2024-03-31T17:00:46","date_gmt":"2024-03-31T15:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=111911"},"modified":"2024-03-31T18:01:10","modified_gmt":"2024-03-31T16:01:10","slug":"04-00-87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=111911","title":{"rendered":"UK\u2019s Eurovision Contestant Refuses to Boycott Song Contest Over Israel\u2019s Involvement, Supports \u2018Unifying Power of Music\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>UK\u2019s Eurovision Contestant Refuses to Boycott Song Contest Over Israel\u2019s Involvement, Supports \u2018Unifying Power of Music\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Shiryn Ghermezian<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Olly Alexander in the music video for \u201cSweet Talker.\u201d Photo: YouTube screenshot<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Pop singer Olly Alexander, the United Kingdom\u2019s representative in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, responded on Friday to an open letter signed by more than 450 members of the LGBTQ+ community asking him to boycott the international music competition because of Israel\u2019s participation in the event.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alexander \u2014 who joined others<\/a> late last year in falsely accusing Israel of genocide and apartheid \u2014 said in a statement shared on social media<\/a> that he wants to use his participation in the Eurovision contest to advocate for peace in the Middle East.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI know some people will choose to boycott this year\u2019s Eurovision and I understand and respect their decision,\u201d he began by saying. \u201cIt is my current belief that removing myself from the contest wouldn\u2019t bring us any closer to our shared goal. Instead, I\u2019ve been speaking with some of the other EV contestants and we\u2019ve decided that by taking part we can use our platform to come together and call for peace.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI hope and pray that our calls are answered and there is an end to the atrocities we are seeing taking place in Gaza,\u201d he added. The singer also reiterated his support for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, and called for the return of all hostages taken by Hamas from Israel during the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in the Jewish state, as well as \u201cthe safety and security of all civilians in Palestine and Israel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Queers for Palestine published an open letter<\/a> on Thursday urging Alexander to pull out of Eurovision in solidarity with the Palestinians. \u201cThere can be no party with a state committing apartheid and genocide,\u201d the group said. \u201cAt a time when accountability is so urgently needed, Israel\u2019s inclusion in Eurovision would enable and cover up its war crimes and crimes against humanity.\u201d The letter\u2019s signatories included actors, writers, musicians, novelists, and playwrights.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alexander also shared on Friday a joint statement<\/a> from him and other Eurovision contestants this year who are choosing to remain in the competition, despite being against Israel\u2019s actions during its ongoing defensive war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe firmly believe in the unifying power of music, enabling people to transcend differences and foster meaningful conversations and connections,\u201d they said. \u201cWe feel that it is our duty to create and uphold this space, with a strong hope that it will inspire greater compassion and empathy.\u201d The joint statement was signed by Eurovision contestants Bambie Thug from Ireland, G\u00e5te from Norway, iolanda from Portugal, Megara from San Marino, Nemo from Switzerland, SABA from Denmark, Silvester Belt from Lithuania, and Windows95Man from Finland.<\/span><\/p>\n

Musicians in Iceland pushed to have Israel banned<\/a> from the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest before the competition began because of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, but the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the contest, rejected their demands. Eurovision Party London, the English capital city\u2019s biggest Eurovision screening party, also announced last week that it was cancelling its screening event for this year\u2019s Eurovision because of Israel\u2019s involvement in the competition.<\/span><\/p>\n

The finals for the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest will take place on May 11 in Malm\u00f6, Sweden. Israel\u2019s contestant in the competition, Eden Golan, is competing with a song renamed Hurricane<\/em>. The track\u2019s original lyrics and song title, October Rain<\/em>, was initially disqualified by the EBU for being too political since the original song referenced the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

An official in Israel has encouraged<\/a> Israelis planning to attend this year\u2019s Eurovision contest in Sweden to hide their Zionism or Israeli identity and not draw attention to themselves to avoid having security issues in Malto. The official described Malto as \u201can unfriendly area for Israelis.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In last year\u2019s Eurovision competition, contestant Noa Kirel from Israel came in third place.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Zawarto\u015b\u0107 publikowanych artyku\u0142\u00f3w i materia\u0142\u00f3w nie reprezentuje pogl\u0105d\u00f3w ani opinii Reunion’68,<\/em>
\nani te\u017c webmastera Blogu Reunion’68, chyba ze jest to wyra\u017anie zaznaczone.
\nTwoje uwagi, linki, w\u0142asne artyku\u0142y lub wiadomo\u015bci prze\u015blij na adres:
\n<\/em>webmaster@reunion68.com<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UK\u2019s Eurovision Contestant Refuses to Boycott Song Contest Over Israel\u2019s Involvement, Supports \u2018Unifying Power of Music\u2019 Shiryn Ghermezian Olly Alexander in the music video for \u201cSweet Talker.\u201d Photo: YouTube screenshot Pop singer Olly Alexander, the United Kingdom\u2019s representative in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, responded on Friday to an open letter signed by more than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111911"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=111911"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111932,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111911\/revisions\/111932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=111911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=111911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=111911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}