Eurovision 2025: Protests over Israel's participation amid Gaza genocide are louder than ever

Protests around Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, which takes place this week and culminates in a final on Saturday, 17 May, are growing ever louder — despite obstinance from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that coordinates the competition.

With Israeli entrant Yuval Raphael due to perform at the second semi-final on Thursday evening, expressions of protest against Israel’s participation in the contest — from public broadcasters, former Eurovision acts, and pro-Palestine activists in the contest’s host city of Basel — are continuing to roll in, the latest among them being last year’s Eurovision winner Nemo.

Opponents to Israel’s participation in the international competition say that the EBU is allowing Israel to artwash its image with song and dance as it commits genocide against the Palestinian people, while the EBU has pledged a “non-political” position.

‘Non-political’ pretence

Earlier this month, more than 70 former Eurovision participants signed an open letter published by Artists for Palestine UK, demanding that the EBU exclude Israeli public broadcaster KAN from the contest. 

“As singers, songwriters, musicians and others who have had the privilege of participating in Eurovision, we urge the EBU and all its member broadcasters to act now and prevent further discredit and disruption to the festival: Israel must be excluded from Eurovision,” the letter reads.

A spokesperson for Artists for Palestine UK told The New Arab about the letter: "Nineteen months into this live-streamed genocide, it is beyond shameful that a European institution such as the EBU is even considering gifting a global stage for the Israeli state to promote itself through pop music as it slaughters defenceless and starving people as they shelter in tents."

Under the permanent slogan “United in Music”, Eurovision’s organisers bill the contest as a “joyful, non-political event dedicated to music and culture”. 

But to many of the EBU’s critics, any pretence that Eurovision is a non-political event came crashing down when the broadcasting union moved swiftly to exclude Russia after it began its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Signatories of the open letter say the EBU’s willingness to act on Russia but not on Israel demonstrates a “double standard”.

Among the letter’s signatories is Bianca Nicholas, who represented the United Kingdom in the contest in 2015 as one half of Electro Velvet.

“As a former Eurovision contestant, I believe strongly in the values of unity, peace, and inclusivity that the contest represents,” Bianca told The New Arab. 

“My stance is about holding all nations to the same standard when it comes to human rights and international accountability. Eurovision has previously taken political stances in defence of those suffering, most notably when it excluded Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. I believe this is one of those moments,” she added. 

“Calling for Israel's exclusion is a call for consistency and compassion — not division.”

KAN and complicity 

The broadcasting networks of Iceland, Slovenia, Spain and Ireland have all called for at least reconsideration of Israel’s participation in the contest in light of the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

In its latest response, the EBU has said it is willing to more widely discuss the matter of Israeli participation at the contest “in due course”.

In defence of its decision to exclude Russia but not Israel, the EBU has previously said: “The relationship between KAN and the Israeli Government is fundamentally different to the relationship that exists between those Russian Members and the State, with the Israeli Government in recent years threatening to close down the broadcaster.”

Kan has indeed come under threat, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly looking to privatise the broadcaster after it aired content critical of the government.

However, attached to the open letter is a long and damning list that includes examples of when Kan journalists have incited acts of genocide in Gaza.

The letter also points out that during its live broadcast, KAN commentators derided contestants at last year’s Eurovision who had criticised Israel in the run up to the competition — for which the EBU wagged its finger and reminded commentators of the need to be respectful towards contestants. 

A former Eurovision contestant who wished to remain anonymous told The New Arab, “Last year, Israel and KAN did not adhere to the values of Eurovision, where we can unite in music, no matter what ethnicity, identity, beliefs, et cetera.”

The former contestant said the Israeli delegation “was filming other artists backstage in an intimidating way”, and that there was “general unease backstage because of them” last year, accusations other contestants also made and the EBU acknowledged.

Power ballad allegory

In the lead-up to the contest, Yuval Raphael has said that she and the Israeli delegation want music to be the focus — not politics.

She told the BBC: "I'm really putting everything aside and just concentrating on the most important thing. The slogan this year is 'united by music' and that's what we are here for."

Yuval survived the Nova festival attack of 7 October 2023 and has spoken at the UN Human Rights Council about her ordeal. Interviews in the lead-up to her performance at the contest have highlighted an ‘ambassadorial’ transition, from survivors’ advocate on international stages to representative of Israel at Eurovision.

The 24-year-old will sing New Day Will Rise, a song about a broad “hope for better days” — though Israeli media has pointed out that its lyrics and the tropes in its accompanying music video could easily be read as references to the Nova massacre.

The song was written by Keren Peles, who wrote Hurricane – originally titled October Rain – sung by last year’s Israeli entrant, Eden Golan. The EBU ordered that the lyrics in October Rain be rewritten to remove references to the 7 October attacks.

In a reminder that Eurovision is a stage for political symbolism, Yuval’s dress rehearsal performance saw her stand on a structure that KAN said paid homage to an image of Theodor Herzl, who is widely seen as the father of political Zionism, looking over a balcony during the Fifth Zionist Congress that took place in Basel in 1901.

Israeli officials, including President Isaac Herzog, and representatives of KAN have recognised the symbolic power of Eurovision participation.

While an Israeli delegation is granted the platform to express national pride in allegorical power ballad form, the contest’s other performers will not be permitted to show any acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, whose entire population is currently at risk of starvation thanks to an Israeli blockade. 

As part of its call to “Respect Political Neutrality”, the contest’s Code of Conduct, to which all entrants must agree to be bound, says contestants “are required to respect this mission by refraining from political promotion or related conduct, including actions, statements, or symbols during – or in relation to – the event.”

Though entrants to last year’s contest did not heed calls by Palestinian organisations to boycott Eurovision, several did perform gestures of solidarity with Palestine, which the EBU moved to smother or later criticise.

“Silencing symbols of support sends a message that some lives are more worthy of visibility than others,” Bianca said. 

“This kind of censorship undermines the spirit of Eurovision and ignores the reality that art and music have always been used to reflect, challenge, and shape the world we live in.”

The anonymous former contestant told The New Arab, “Eurovision is a great symbolic arena. None of the participants are directly saving lives in Gaza by uttering themselves against Israel’s war crimes, but symbolism is important, and that is why Israel is so keenly trying to exploit Eurovision to express their one-sided and bloodthirsty world view.”

Eurovision bosses were last year also accused of using “anti-booing technology” to drown out boos for the Israeli contestant from the crowd from the broadcast. Organisers denied that booing had been censored.

The New Arab contacted the EBU to ask if anti-booing technology might be used at this year’s contest, but did not receive a response by the time this article was published.

‘We say no!’

In last year’s Eurovision host city of Malmö, around 10,000 people took to the streets to protest Israeli participation in the contest on the day of the second semi-final. This year, pro-Palestine activists in Basel got into gear.

On the day of the contest’s opening ceremony, protesters bearing Palestinian flags and placards bearing slogans like ‘No stage for genocide’ assembled at the Turquoise Carpet that welcomes participating artists.

Protesters were heeding calls from ESCalate4Palestine, a Basel-based activist group. According to ESCalate4Palestine, several hundred people attended Sunday’s action. The group also have a demonstration planned for the day of the contest’s final.

“We aim to prevent so-called Israel's participation in the ESC and ensure that KAN is excluded from the EBU,” ESCalate4Palestine told The New Arab about their motivations and aims.

“Israel is committing genocide today, but is it allowed to continue spreading its propaganda? To that, we say no! Switzerland and Basel cannot provide a stage for the propaganda of a state that is actively committing genocide and practising apartheid," the group added. 

“This terrorist state has absolutely no justification to visit Basel with an official delegation, to engage in artwashing and pinkwashing to promote their ethnonationalist project with electric music and coloured lights.”

Local police have vowed to guarantee freedom of expression and assembly during the contest, provided that police permission is obtained.

‘Lipstick on a pig’

Last year’s Eurovision was among its most chaotic iterations ever, in major part because of Israeli participation in the competition and the stifling of pro-Palestine expression.

Acts were on the verge of pulling out of the final last minute, and crisis meetings were reportedly held by broadcasters and contest organisers just hours before the competition started.

In the letter published by Artists for Palestine UK, signatories call for the EBU to “act now and prevent further discredit and disruption to the festival”.

For the anonymous ex-contestant, Eurovision risks falling apart altogether if its organisers continue to act in a manner at odds with its slogan, such as by limiting solidarity with Palestinians.

“It just comes across as a facade game, that smells of censorship and trying to control the artists to save the institution that Eurovision also is,” they said.

“That institution is crumbling with such actions, and putting lipstick on this pig will eventually make the people who believe in the core values of Eurovision leave. The core value is: United by Music.”

For Bianca, speaking up about the genocide is not a matter of politics, but one of morality. 

“Music has always been a powerful vehicle for truth, empathy, and resistance. Eurovision doesn’t exist in a vacuum — it’s a global platform, watched by millions,” she said.

“When innocent lives are being lost on such a scale, using your voice becomes a moral responsibility, not a political move. If we truly stand for peace and justice, we must be willing to speak up — even when it’s uncomfortable. Especially then.”

Shahla Omar is a freelance journalist based in London

Follow her on X: @shahlasomar