As the world prepares for the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Switzerland, Israel is once again slated to participate – this time performing on May 15, Nakba Day, the annual commemoration of the ethnic cleansing of over 700,000 Palestinians in 1948.

The symbolism is grotesque. That the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) would allow a state currently engaged in an ongoing genocide in Gaza to perform on the very day Palestinians mark their collective trauma is scandalous.

Over 70 former Eurovision contestants have already signed an open letter calling for Israel and its national broadcaster KAN to be banned from the contest. Unfortunately but unsurprisingly, with the competition just days away from starting, those calls have fallen on deaf ears.

Double standards

The same organisation that disqualified Russia in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine seemingly has no issue with Israel’s actions on the Palestinian people. If Eurovision deemed Russia’s aggression grounds for disqualification, why is Israel’s ongoing genocide and intensifying forced starvation campaign in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands and flattened civilian infrastructure, being treated with impunity?

Money talks

Part of the answer may lie with money. Since 2020, Moroccan Oil – an Israeli-founded cosmetics company – has served as the official Presenting Partner of Eurovision. The company’s close ties to Israel and its prominent financial stake in the contest raise serious questions about corporate influence over what is supposedly an “apolitical” cultural event. Could this lucrative sponsorship be helping shield Israel from accountability within Eurovision? It wouldn’t be the first time commerce and complicity walked hand in hand.

Ban Israel from international competitions

DiEM25 launched a petition to suspend Israel from international sport in early 2024 due to its persistent human rights violations, which gained huge traction, with over 110,000 signatures. Entertainment and cultural platforms like Eurovision are no different – they, too, are international stages where human dignity and equality should be non-negotiable values.

By allowing Israel to perform, Eurovision 2025 becomes a propaganda platform for a state committing horrors against an entire people, and whose aim it is to ethnically cleanse and outright conquer Palestinian lands.

Only one options remains: Boycott

Artists, audiences, and nations of conscience must take a stand. DiEM25 calls for Israel to be excluded from this year’s competition, and for all who believe in peace and justice to boycott the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest if Israel remains in the lineup.

As the clock ticks and Israel’s inclusion remains unchallenged, leaving justice sidelined once again, the only principled path left is to simply boycott – that means: refuse to watch, refuse to vote (and thus sponsor this hypocritical event), and let everyone know how you feel about Israel’s participation, both in public and on social media.

We support BDS

Since late 2024, DiEM25 formally endorses the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement as part of our commitment to global justice and in response to the enduring plight of the Palestinian people.

We are committed to supporting BDS by declaring our organisation an Apartheid-Free Zone, meaning we actively reject any complicity in Israeli apartheid, and the Eurovision ordeal is yet another way in which we continue to back this movement.

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