Over 70 former Eurovision contestants call for Israel to be banned from competition

More than 70 former Eurovision contestants – including winners – have signed an open letter calling for Israel to be removed from this year’s competition.

The signatories urged the EBU to ban Israel’s national broadcaster KAN as well as Yuval Raphael, who is set to perform New Day Will Rise”. Shared by campaign group Artists for Palestine, the letter says that the country’s inclusion made last year’s event “one of the most politicised” in history.

Following the attack by the Palestinian nationalist group Hamas in 2023, which left 1,195 people dead, and at least 250 Israeli citizens and soldiers taken hostage, Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has killed in excess of 50,000 people. A peer-reviewed study published in the medical journal The Lancet put the death toll

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