Sir, – In a month that Binyamin Netanyahu declared “Israel is not a state of all its citizens”, and a UN commission of inquiry found that Israeli forces have been deliberately targeting and killing civilians in Gaza, including children, medics and journalists, it is more clear than ever why we must listen to the Palestinian people and to the thousands worldwide calling for a boycott of Eurovision 2019 in Israel.
Israel’s supporters constantly cite other serial human rights abusers and wonder why Palestine solidarity campaigners don’t focus on them. That is in itself indicative of where Israel sits in the world league of oppressors, and also ignores the glaringly obvious notion that Palestine solidarity would focus on, yes, Palestine.
This year’s Eurovision is not being held in Syria or Turkey or Yemen, nor has civil society in those states called for a boycott, as Palestinian civil society has been doing since 2005. It’s time we listened. – Yours, etc,
ZOË LAWLOR,
Cultural Liaison,
BETTY
PURCELL,
Media Officer,
Ireland-Palestine
Solidarity Campaign,
Dublin 1.