More than 1,000 musicians and cultural workers signed an open letter on Tuesday, calling for a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest due to Israel's participation, according to the initiative behind the appeal.
The letter, organized by the group "No Music for Genocide," calls on artists, broadcasters, staff members and fans to withdraw their support for the contest until the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) expels Israel's public broadcaster, KAN.
The initiative had previously succeeded in convincing artists to block their music from streaming services in Israel.
Among the signatories are renowned international artists including Brian Eno, Massive Attack, Kneecap and Roger Waters, along with previous Eurovision winners such as Emmelie de Forest and Charlie McGettigan.
The letter says that allowing Israel to compete while Russia remains suspended from the contest due to its war in Ukraine in 2022 exposes what the signatories call hypocrisy in EBU policies.
"The EBU's hypocritical responses to the crimes of Russia and Israel have dispelled any illusion of Eurovision's alleged 'neutrality'. In 2022, the EBU said that Russia's admission would 'bring the contest into disrepute,'" the letter states.
"But more than 30 months of genocide in Gaza along with ethnic cleansing and land theft in the besieged West Bank are not enough to apply the same policy to Israel," it added.
The artists accused the EBU of undermining its claimed neutrality and called on industry figures to take a stand, saying "passive silence is not an option."
The statement also praised broadcasters and competitors who have reportedly withdrawn from national selections or refused to participate in protest, citing organizations from Spain, Ireland, Iceland, Slovenia and the Netherlands.
The Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to take place in Austria between May 12 and 16.
