In a recent petition, a group of Finnish music industry professionals demands that Finnish national broadcaster Yle pressure the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to exclude Israel from Eurovision.
The signatories also believe that Yleisradio should boycott Eurovision if Israel participates in the song competition. In the petition, the signatories state that Israel’s participation in Eurovision is against their values.
Finnish artists Iisa, Paleface, Lxandra and Vesta shared the appeal on their social media accounts.
“Currently the situation in Gaza is completely unsustainable. Israel’s human rights violations have been going on for years and have increased to such an extent that the country’s participation in Eurovision does not seem reasonable,” says guitarist Timo Kämäräinen of Helsingin Sanomat (HS).
According to Kämäräinen, Israel’s participation in Eurovision would be contrary to the values represented by the song contest, because Israel does not represent human rights at the European level.
The appeal and the collection of signatures were launched by a group of initiatives from music industry operators.
“We thought that we, music industry professionals, should tell Yle what we think can and cannot be done for the good of music,” says Lukas Korpelainen, a freelance musician who is part of the initiative group.
Korpelainen was the Greens’ candidate in the 2021 local elections.
As of Friday afternoon, more than 1,200 people have signed the petition, and its promoters plan to deliver it to Yle in mid-January.
The signatories of the petition compare Israel’s war against Hamas to Russia’s war against Ukraine and refer to the decision made in 2022 to ban Russia from participating in Eurovision.
Ville Vilén, head of creative content and media at Yle, previously told HS that Russia and Israel cannot be compared.
2024-01-05 13:44:00
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