Petition to SBS: Don't screen Eurovision 2019 if it is in Israel

News

11 Sept

Written By The Secretary

Israel is expected to host the Eurovision Song Contest in May 2019, following Netta Barzilai’s win in Eurovision 2018.

We urge SBS not to participate or broadcast Eurovision 2019 if it is in Israel.

We love SBS and we love Eurovision, but:

Is a song contest more important than human rights?

Are advertising dollars worth more than international law?

Palestinian musicians and artists have launched a campaign to boycott Eurovision 2019 in Israel, because Eurovision should not be used to whitewash the Israeli government’s brutal and illegal occupation and apartheid policies inflicted on Palestinian people every day.

We are calling on SBS’s board of directors and CEO not to broadcast Eurovision 2019 if it is held in Israel, as is planned.

Take action and tell SBS not to participate in or broadcast Eurovision 2019.

Israel is shamelessly using Eurovision as part of its official Brand Israel strategy, which attempts to whitewash and distract attention from its war crimes against Palestinians.

Israel effectively declared itself an apartheid state by adopting the “Jewish Nation-State Law” in July 2018. Palestinian citizens are now constitutionally denied equal rights.

Holding Eurovision 2019 in Israel whitewashes apartheid.

Israel has imposed prison conditions in the Occupied West Bank and in Gaza for the last fifty years since their lands were stolen and they were placed under Israeli military rule. More than one hundred and thirty people were shot in cold blood by Israeli snipers in between March and June 2018 for simply protesting for their human rights and there are currently some 6,500 Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

Holding Eurovision 2019 in Israel whitewashes Israel’s crimes against Palestinians

Sign and share this call to SBS not to artwash Israel’s crimes against Palestinians

Encourage local performers to boycott Israel

Join with Palestinian artists asking Australians to boycott Eurovision. Prominent musicians who have refused to perform in Israel so far include: Lorde, Lauryn Hill, Chuck D, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Patti Smith, Annie Lennox, Faithless, Brian Eno, The Pixies, Thurston Moore, Elvis Costello and Cat Power.

Just like the campaign to end apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s, your international solidarity is vital.