“Stop The Double Standards”: 72 Eurovision Artists Call For Israel Ban Over Gaza War
Written by on 7 Μαΐου 2025
With just days until the lights go up on Eurovision Song Contest 2025, a political storm is threatening to eclipse the music.
A group of 72 former Eurovision contestants—including past winners and fan favorites—have signed an open letter demanding Israel’s expulsion from the competition. Addressed to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the letter accuses Israel’s public broadcaster Kan of “complicity in the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” as well as being part of “a decades-long apartheid regime and military occupation.”
The statement doesn’t spare the EBU itself, accusing it of “whitewashing crimes” and applying a “double standard,” especially after Russia was banned in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine. “We express our solidarity with this year’s competitors,” the letter reads, “but we cannot accept silence from the EBU.”
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Signatories include Salvador Sobral (Portugal, 2017 winner), Mae Muller (UK), and Charlie McGettigan (Ireland), alongside dozens of artists from Iceland and Finland, countries often at the forefront of Eurovision’s most vocal protests.
The backlash comes as Yuval Raphael prepares to represent Israel in Basel. A survivor of the October 7 Hamas massacre at the Nova festival, Raphael has said, “I want to tell my story, and that of Israel, even if it brings protests.” The young singer survived by playing dead in a shelter where only 11 of 50 made it out alive.
Despite the growing outcry, Israel remains in the lineup. The 2025 edition—hosted in Switzerland after Nemo’s win
READ THE LETTER IN FULL
We, the undersigned former Eurovision participants, urge all members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to demand the exclusion of KAN, the Israeli public broadcaster, from the Eurovision Song Contest. KAN is complicit in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and the decades-long regime of apartheid and military occupation against the entire Palestinian people.
We believe in the unifying power of music, which is why we refuse to allow music to be used as a tool to whitewash crimes against humanity. Last year, we were appalled that the EBU allowed Israel to participate while it continued its genocide in Gaza broadcast live for the world to see. The result was disastrous.
Rather than acknowledging the widespread criticism and reflecting on its own failures, the EBU responded by doubling down — granting total impunity to the Israeli delegation while repressing other artists and delegations, making the 2024 edition the most politicized, chaotic and unpleasant in the competition’s history.
Silence is not an option. When authoritarian movements and the far-right are on the rise around the globe, our duty to speak out has only become more pressing. We therefore join together to state that the EBU’s complicity with Israel’s genocide must stop.
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By continuing to platform the representation of the Israeli state, the EBU is normalising and whitewashing its crimes. The EBU has already demonstrated that it is capable of taking measures, as in 2022, when it expelled Russia from the competition. We don’t accept this double standard regarding Israel.
We stand in solidarity with this year’s contestants and condemn the EBU’s repeated refusal to take responsibility.
As singers, songwriters, musicians and others who have had the privilege of participating in Eurovision, we urge the EBU and all its member broadcasters to act now and prevent further discredit and disruption to the festival: Israel must be excluded from Eurovision.
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