Bethlehem / PNN/
More than 1,000 artists and production companies worldwide have called for a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest, scheduled for May in Vienna, in protest against Israel’s participation.
The statement, published on the website of the “No Music for Genocide” movement, gathered over 1,100 signatures as of Wednesday, including well-known groups and musicians such as Massive Attack, Kneecap, Macklemore, and Roger Waters.
The signatories called for the exclusion of Israel’s public broadcaster “Kan,” which they said has become “complicit in crimes against humanity committed by Israel.”
They urged artists and production companies to join the cultural movement rejecting apartheid, occupation, and genocide against Palestinians, and to withdraw their music from Israel.
The statement noted that “No Music for Genocide” is a cultural boycott campaign against Israel, saying that more than 1,000 artists and production companies have geo-blocked and removed their works from the territory. It said this comes in response to what it described as the escalation in Gaza, the ongoing occupation and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and apartheid within Israel, as well as global suppression of pro-Palestinian activities and ties between the music industry and the arms sector.
It added that the initiative is a step toward responding to Palestinian calls to isolate Israel, stressing that cultural boycotts played a historic role in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.
“This tangible act is just one step toward honoring Palestinian demands to isolate and delegitimize apartheid Israel as it kills without consequence on the world stage. The successful cultural boycotts against apartheid South Africa prove that our creative work grants us agency and power. When we wield it together, we add unified pressure to a growing interdependent movement, from Hollywood to the docks of Morocco.”
The statement also criticized what it described as double standards in the international response, noting: “No such measures have been taken against Israel (or in support of Palestinians) after decades of illegal occupation, apartheid, and nearly three years of accelerated genocide in Gaza.”
The letter said, “Israel has violated the October 2025 ceasefire 1000s of times in Palestine to kill or injure 1000s more Palestinians, just as Israel has repeatedly violated earlier ceasefires in both Palestine and in Lebanon,” adding that it continues to starve and bomb Gaza, steal more land from the occupied West Bank, and institute racist death penalties only applied to Palestinian hostages in Israeli prisons. It concluded that, “This initiative is borderless and open to all artists and labels who want to boycott. We hope it leads to additional efforts against the music industry's complicity.”
The Eurovision Song Contest, marking its 70th edition this year, is facing what has been described as its largest boycott in history due to Israel’s participation. Broadcasters from Spain, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands, and Slovenia have announced their withdrawal, criticizing Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.
The countries that withdrew criticized Israel’s ongoing bloody and destructive war on the Gaza Strip.