Israel's qualification for the final night of the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden met today with dissonant tones in Europe, one party in the Spanish government demanded the exclusion of the Israeli candidate while Berlin and Paris condemned the protests against the country's participation.
Jost Klein, the representative of the Netherlands, who showed disagreement last night because he performed right next to the Israeli candidate Eden Golan, could not hold the dress rehearsal today, the organizers said that there was an "incident", but without further details.
In front of 9.000 spectators last night, 20-year-old Eden Golan made it to the final night of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday in Malmö with her song "Hurricane", the first version of which had to be changed because it alluded to the Palestinian Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 that started a war.
Israel is thus among the 26 countries that will compete in Saturday's final to succeed Sweden as the winner of the competition in 2023, watched by 162 million television viewers.
Her participation was contested by the far-left Sumar party, whose leader Yolanda Diaz is number three in the Spanish government, and which today launched a petition calling for Israel's exclusion from the final.
Sumer reproaches the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for accepting Israel's participation at a time when "Israeli troops are killing the Palestinian people and destroying the entire region." As of this afternoon, just under 7.000 people have signed the petition.
On the other hand, the German Minister of Culture, Claudia Roth, wrote on the X network that calls for a boycott of Israeli artists in Malmö "as everywhere in Europe ... are completely unacceptable."
"Politics has no place at Eurovision," the French Minister in charge of Europe, Jean-Noel Barot, also assessed, also evaluating the pressure on artists as "unacceptable".
The Israeli candidate stated that it is truly an honor to be in Malmö "and to present myself with pride". Israel has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest since 1973, and won for the fourth time in 2018.
Today, Israel is considered the favorite behind Croatia, according to online bookmakers Oddshecker.com.
Before the semi-finals, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Eden Golan "has already won" and congratulated her in a video message that she "successfully stood up to the terrible wave of anti-Semitism."
More than 12.000 people, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, demonstrated against Israel's involvement in Malmö on Thursday, with new protests planned for Saturday.
The unions of the Flemish public broadcaster VRT also briefly interrupted the broadcast last night to publish a message of support for the Palestinians and to condemn "human rights violations by the State of Israel".
The neutrality that Eurovision stands for was disrupted on Tuesday by Swedish singer Erik Sade, who appeared with a Palestinian Kefih around his arm.
Swedish public television SVT and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which banned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from speaking during the competition last year, expressed regret for that gesture.
This year, the war in Ukraine has overshadowed the war in Gaza, launched on October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas attack on Israel that killed more than 1.170 people. In response, the Israeli army launched an offensive in Gaza that has so far killed 34.904 people, according to the Hamas health ministry.
"People should express their opinion, people should boycott," said Magnus Bermark, a candidate from Norway, who called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza along with eight other participants.
Police reinforcements arrived from all over Sweden, but also from Denmark and Norway to Malmö, where the largest community of Palestinian origin in Sweden lives.
The police spokesman gave assurances, however, that there are no threats directed against Eurovision.
For fans of the competition, up to 100.000 of them are expected, what is important is what happens on stage, performances, artists and music, not politics, said professor of the history of ideas Andreas Onerfros, Eurovision expert.
That competition, which has been going on for almost 70 years, is an unparalleled demonstration of European tolerance, he said.
Within Malmö's Jewish community, some intend to leave the city for the weekend.
"The feeling of insecurity increased after October 7, many Jews are insecure," said spokesman Fredrik Siradziki. He said that numerous pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the city did not have appeals aimed at the Jewish community.
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