Poland’s culture minister calls for Eurovision boycott if Israel participates

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland’s culture minister has said that she hopes her country will not participate in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest if Israel is permitted to take part.

Israel has competed in Eurovision since 1973, and this year its entrant, Yuval Raphael (pictured above), finished in second place. However, officials from a number of countries have suggested they would boycott next year’s event if Israel takes, part due to growing concern over its actions in Gaza.

During an interview with broadcaster Tok FM, Polish culture minister Marta Cienkowska was asked what she thinks public broadcaster TVP, which oversees Poland’s Eurovision participation, should do.

“I think we shouldn’t participate in Eurovision if Israel takes part,” she replied, though emphasising she was “giving my personal opinion, not as a minister, but as a human being”.

“It is with a very heavy heart that I watch what is happening in that part of the world,” added Cienkowska. “It’s hard to have fun [at Eurovision] in this context.”

Spain, Ireland, Iceland, Slovenia and the Netherlands are among the countries that have threatened a boycott of next year’s Eurovision, which takes place in Vienna in May.

They note that Russia was expelled from the event after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and suggest that Israel should receive the same treatment for its actions in Gaza.

The Dutch public broadcaster, AVROTROS, last week issued a statement saying that it “can no longer justify Israel’s participation in the current situation, given the ongoing and severe human suffering in Gaza”.

It also “expressed deep concern about the serious erosion of press freedom” by Israel and also accused the country of “interference” in this year’s Eurovision, which Israel “used as a political instrument” in violation of the event’s apolitical nature.

However, on Saturday, Germany’s culture minister, Wolfram Weimer, criticised those calling for a boycott, saying that “excluding Israel goes against [Eurovision’s] fundamental…to bring nations together through music” and “turns a celebration of understanding between peoples into a tribunal”.

Austria’s foreign minister, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, likewise said that “excluding Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest or boycotting the event would neither alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza nor contribute to a sustainable political solution”, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

France and Australia – which has taken part in Eurovision since 2015 – have also confirmed their participation, while the head of Israel’s public broadcaster, Golan Yochpaz, said that his country had no intention of withdrawing from the event.

Poland’s government has recently become more vocal in its criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, as reports of a humanitarian crisis in the territory grow.

In August, foreign minister Radosław Sikorski accused Israel of using “excessive force” and called on it to “respect international humanitarian law” in its “occupation” of Gaza and the West Bank, saying that “no one has the right to cause children to starve”.

Soon after, Prime Minister Donald Tusk declared that, while “Poland was, is and will be on Israel’s side in its confrontation with Islamic terrorism”, it would “never [be] on the side of politicians whose actions lead to hunger and the death of mothers and children”.

Poland has also filed complaints to Google about YouTube videos published by the Israeli embassy in Warsaw that it says are spreading “manipulated or false content” about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.”

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Quejaytee/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY 4.0)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.