As Eurovision proceedings come to an end in apartheid Tel Aviv, the winner is already clear: the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights.

Fewer and fewer artists are performing in Israel because of its vast human rights abuses against Palestinians. @Eurovision is turning out to be a spectacle but not in the way Israel's promoters had hoped. Because Palestinians should be free: #BoycottEurovision2019 pic.twitter.com/ApW3OhojUc — JewishVoiceForPeace (@jvplive) May 7, 2019

More than 150,000 Europeans and others signed petitions urging the boycott of the contest, hundreds of leading artists lent their support, including former Eurovision contestants and one winner, and well over 100 LGBT+ organizations and centers joined the calls.

Having claimed for months that tens of thousands of tourists would travel to apartheid Tel Aviv for the contest, Israeli organizers now admit that only around 5,000 to 7,000 -- a fraction of the expected visitors -- had arrived, a clear sign of the success of the year-long worldwide BDS campaign.

Apartheid Tel Aviv's much-hyped #Eurovision tourism boost never materialized. In fact, tourism may be DOWN on this time last year!#Eurovision2019 is not just the most controversial ever, it's among the worst attended. What a FLOP!#BoycottEurovision2019 #ESC2019 #DareToDream pic.twitter.com/tDWT9YAVZN — PACBI (@PACBI) May 17, 2019

We are building our movement, mainstreaming Palestinian rights, including the rights of our refugees, and winning unprecedented support for isolating Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation. We have together succeeded in preventing Israel’s regime from using Eurovision, the world’s biggest non-sports televised event, to artwash its crimes against Palestinians, especially in the besieged Gaza Strip.

With mobilizations in more than twenty five countries around the world, BDS has experienced new support for our growing movement beyond the most optimistic expectations, thanks to the principled support of so many, and the tireless efforts of human rights activists.

Here, we provide the context to this campaign, celebrate our collective work and catalogue its milestones.

Israel massacred 62 Palestinians in Gaza, including six children, just two days after its May 12th 2018 Eurovision win. Later that day, Israel’s winner Netta Barzilai performed a celebratory concert in apartheid Tel Aviv, hosted by the mayor, and said, “we have a reason to be happy.”

The subsequent call to boycott Eurovision hosted by Israel was initiated by Palestinian journalists and cultural organizations, who asked in June 2018 if Eurovision organizers would “have held the contest in apartheid South Africa?”.

They added that “only through effective and sustained international pressure will Israel be compelled to comply with its obligations under international law and to respect the human rights of Palestinians”.

Facing a growing boycott campaign in many countries, the Israeli government swiftly dropped its prior insistence that the contest would be held in Jerusalem, an early victory in the campaign to boycott the contest.

Israel drops “Jerusalem condition” for hosting #Eurovision in first milestone for #BoycottEurovision2019 campaign, marking a striking failure in Israel’s PR efforts to assert its illegal claim over the city. https://t.co/zx3g1BdoJA pic.twitter.com/tDZ2ZNBxK1 — PACBI (@PACBI) June 27, 2018

But regardless of which apartheid city the contest was to be held in, if it was hosted by Israel, the BDS campaign against it was to continue and escalate.

Israel effectively declared itself an apartheid state not long after, its continuous shift to the far-right more obvious than ever.

In more than half of the 41 participating countries, diverse and creative BDS calls were heard, including in Australia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, the Spanish state, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

In the USA, Jewish Voice for Peace joined the growing international calls to boycott the contest.

While Israel celebrated its Eurovision win on the streets of Tel Aviv, Israeli forces killed 62 Palestinians protesting in Gaza, including 6 children. This is why we boycott. No glitzy prize can cover-up brutal occupation and apartheid. #BoycottEurovision2019 pic.twitter.com/vbTlygDPbS — JewishVoiceForPeace (@jvplive) April 22, 2019

Last September, scores of leading artists, former Eurovision contestants and one winner supported “the heartfelt appeal from Palestinian artists” in an open letter that resulted in widespread, mainstream coverage around the world.

They wrote: “Until Palestinians can enjoy freedom, justice and equal rights, there should be no business-as-usual with the state that is denying them their basic rights.”

BREAKING: Artists from Europe and beyond, including Eurovision participants, support the appeal from Palestinian artists to boycott the contest next year#BoycottEurovision2019 https://t.co/japbuUVE7E — PACBI (@PACBI) September 7, 2018

We welcome the scores of artists who have endorsed the Palestinian call to boycott Eurovision 2019 if hosted by Israel. Eurovision organizers should heed the calls and move the contest from Israel altogether.#BoycottEurovision2019https://t.co/japbuUVE7E pic.twitter.com/9HpdMWmjG7 — PACBI (@PACBI) September 7, 2018

Israel's Eurovision 2018 winner and cultural ambassador, Netta Barzilai, toured Europe last November. Her shows were protested by human rights campaigners after a call from Palestinian queers, who highlighted Barzilai’s recruitment as an ambassador for Israel, making her activities subject to the institutional boycott that Palestinian civil society calls for.

"As Palestinian queers, we call on those who support freedom & justice for all to boycott Netta Barzilai’s shows in Europe ... [she] has willingly taken on the role of cultural ambassador for Israeli apartheid" https://t.co/7ZuHYQY7jb #DontToyWithApartheid #BoycottEurovision2019 pic.twitter.com/MsB13QFqfF — PACBI (@PACBI) November 18, 2018

Protests follow Israeli apartheid ambassador Netta Barzilai across Europe. At Paris show, BDS France & LGBT pour la Palestine protest Barzilai's role in pinkwashing Israel's violations of Palestinian rights. #DontToyWithApartheid #BoycottEurovision2019 https://t.co/7ZuHYQY7jb pic.twitter.com/EO7sg6rfBi — PACBI (@PACBI) November 19, 2018

In December, singers eligible for Eurovision in the Spanish state's wildly popular TV show Operacion Triunfo said Israel hosting the contest was "unfortunate" and they would prefer it to take place elsewhere, amid growing mainstream coverage of the BDS campaign.

A few weeks after, British band The Tuts, who were later to tour with The Specials, announced that they had been invited to enter the BBC’s You Decide TV show that selects the UK’s Eurovision entry, but had refused, to widespread acclaim on social media.

So, we got asked to enter EUROVISION 2019 to represent the UK but it’s being held in ISRAEL so that’s a NO from us! — The Tuts (@TheTutsBand) January 24, 2019

Just a few days earlier, human rights defenders in Paris had taken to the stage of the French Eurovision finalist selection show on live TV, insisting the contest should be boycotted.

Human rights defenders in Paris took to the stage of the French @Eurovision finalist selection show on live TV, insisting the contest should be boycotted as long as it is hosted by apartheid Israel. @EBU_HQ #BoycottEurovision2019 #Eurovision2019 #Eurovision #ESC2019 #DareToDream pic.twitter.com/Gf1xUyBe47 — PACBI (@PACBI) January 21, 2019

Soon after, fifty prominent British cultural figures wrote a letter to the BBC, urging the broadcaster to press for Eurovision to be relocated.

The same day, scores of LGBT+ groups published a call for the the boycott of Eurovision and Tel Aviv Pride, in support of Palestinian queers and against Israel’s cynical pinkwashing agenda.

Well over 100 groups, including BeLongTo, Ireland’s national LGBT+ youth organisation, and the Naples and Padua sections of Arcigay, Italy’s oldest and largest LGBT+ advocacy organisation, have now endorsed the call.

In February, film director Julio Pérez del Campo supported the call to boycott Eurovision in his televised acceptance speech at the Goya Awards (the “Oscars” of the Spanish state).

Just a few weeks later, legendary composer and producer Brian Eno wrote an op-ed urging the UK’s Eurovision contestant to “help to ensure that Eurovision 2019 will be remembered as an occasion of principled protest, not another episode of cultural whitewashing.”

Eurovisión también se ha colado en los #Goya2019 en el discurso de Julio del Campo, uno de los directores del corto 'Gaza' https://t.co/mqWH5V8O2R pic.twitter.com/vfPs7zRoDe — La 1 (@La1_tve) February 2, 2019

The next month, Haneen Maikey, Director of alQaws for Sexual & Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society, a grassroots Jerusalem-based queer Palestinian political organisation, and Dr Hilary Aked, a London-based writer, researcher and activist published an article in The Independent, detailing how Israel exploits LGBT+ identity to pinkwash its crimes.

This followed an article about Israel’s pinkwashing of occupation and apartheid in Irish media.

Since Palestinian queer groups issued a call to #BoycottEurovision2019 hosted by Israel, almost 100 LGBT+ groups have signed up. They recognise that from a collective liberation perspective, struggles for queer and Palestinian liberation are inseparable. https://t.co/i9z5bVsAfq pic.twitter.com/xSj7UNKRxL — PACBI (@PACBI) March 4, 2019

With months still to go until the contest, as competing countries were selecting their contestants, the boycott of Eurovision was already supported by trade unions including the Musicians’ Union of Ireland, Irish Equity and CGT, political parties, and politicians in Europe and beyond.

Calls to #BoycottEurovision2019 if hosted by Israel are spreading across Europe and beyond, including from former Eurovision winners, commentators and presenters, legendary artists, trade unions, politicians and political parties. ►Join the campaign: https://t.co/wldfI50h5g pic.twitter.com/7ok1Wfdt55 — PACBI (@PACBI) July 31, 2018

More than one hundred Palestinian artists -- including award-winning filmmakers, musicians, poets and others -- then urged Eurovision contestants to withdraw, in an open letter:

“As Palestinian artists – brutalised, besieged, occupied and exiled – we cannot offer the glitz and glamour of Eurovision. We can offer something much bigger: a place in the history books.”

Days later, twenty six Israeli artists also urged Eurovision participants to withdraw, writing: “We, as artists, can’t sit silent as our Palestinian counterparts suffer silencing, dehumanization and violence, and we ask you to join us in speaking out.”

Israeli artists urge @Eurovision contestants to withdraw: "We can’t sit silent as our Palestinian counterparts suffer silencing, dehumanization and violence, and we ask you to join us in speaking out."#BoycottEurovision2019 #Eurovision #ESC2019 @EBU_HQhttps://t.co/4DYHyo28XT pic.twitter.com/qE4fLFqBm7 — PACBI (@PACBI) March 31, 2019

Human rights activists and artists in many participating countries appealed privately and publicly to Eurovision contestants, broadcasters, hosts, judges and others.

#ArtistasQueYaDijeronNO @MarinahOfficial fue galardonada con el premio #Esperança2018 de la Comunitat @Palestina_cat por su arte y su determinación al no querer actuar para el #Apartheid israelí. La rumba suena más bonita si sirve para cambiar el mundo. #BoycottEurovision2019 pic.twitter.com/JAtkl6yYyT — RESCOP - BDS (@RESCOP1) February 27, 2019

The following letter, signed by 20 LGBTQ+ campaigners was recently sent to Sarah McTernan, Ireland’s Eurovision entrant, asking her to #BoycottEurovison2019. The highlight Israel's use of “pinkwashing" to whitewash its oppression of the Palestinian people https://t.co/MaNmp1aTpS — IPSC (@ipsc48) April 16, 2019

British cultural figures urge BBC to boycott Eurovision in Israel: Vivienne Westwood, Mike Leigh and Julie Christie are among those calling for coverage to be cancelled, citing human rights violations https://t.co/rnQ8fzm7Y7 — ArtistsForPalestineUK (@Art4PalestineUK) January 29, 2019

Auguri @Mahmood_Music x la vittoria a #Sanremo2019! Ora unisciti ai tanti artisti che hanno ascoltato l’appello palestinese x non lasciare che Israele utilizzi #Eurovision x nascondere i suoi crimini. #MahmoodNonAndare #BoycottEurovision2019 pic.twitter.com/1JglkKkK4Q — BDS Italia (@bdsitalia) February 12, 2019

Eurovision 2019: Nicht in einem Apartheidstaat! Nicht in Israel!https://t.co/MZiNpW9b6l — BDS Berlin (@BDSBerlin) February 25, 2019

Protest in pictures: EUROVISION IN CONCERT: There´s no pride in apartheid! Boycott Eurovision 2019 in Israel https://t.co/8VmJ37jMWO pic.twitter.com/zf5DgBYsv9 — docP (@docP_) May 1, 2019

We were loud and proud for Palestinians’ equal human rights today, telling @sbs_australia not to whitewash Israeli crimes behind the #Eurovision party in Tel Aviv and to #BoycottEurovision2019 pic.twitter.com/diYaWNFUXz — BDS_Australia (@BDS_Australia) April 27, 2019

European broadcasting companies & @EBU refuse to react to 136.000+ people demanding to #BoycottEurovision2019 in Israel. With their silence they place themselves in the service of the propaganda of an #Apartheid state. https://t.co/OTiERWnPVp#NoSongForApartheid pic.twitter.com/vqB72wHkdE — BDS Schweiz - Suisse (@BDS_switzerland) May 7, 2019

In an Open Letter in today’s Irish Times, 32 veterans of the Irish movement against South African apartheid call for Ireland, RTÉ & Sarah McTernan to #BoycottEurovision2019 due to be held in Israel next week, comparing Israel to Apartheid South Africa. https://t.co/UeHtZjRG1Z — IPSC (@ipsc48) May 10, 2019

Plus de 100 artistes français s'engagent contre l'#Eurovision en Israël, retrouvez leur tribune publiée sur Médiapart: https://t.co/RkDvED5hfb

Visuel par Sébastien Marchal, l'un des artistes signataires: pic.twitter.com/jDEeKbD7MP — AgenceMediaPalestine (@AgenceMediaPal) May 11, 2019

When it was announced in April that Madonna would perform at Eurovision, the coverage demonstrated the predominance of BDS over Israel’s attempts to artwash apartheid.

Madonna has never been one to shy away from controversy and now she is due to fly into the eye of a Eurovision storm https://t.co/feFRKgyOi1 — The Times of London (@thetimes) April 10, 2019

Madonna to perform at Eurovision song contest in Israel https://t.co/p1fGLeu0Vc — The Guardian (@guardian) April 9, 2019

PACBI urged Madonna to cancel, informing her that “Israel’s fanatic, far-right government is cynically exploiting your performance, and those of the contestants, to mark its deepening oppression of Palestinians”.

Speed Sisters, an all-women racing team who Madonna had previously praised as “fighting for freedom in Palestine”, also appealed to her to cancel.

Dear @Madonna, Palestinians hope that you will not undermine our struggle for freedom, justice and equality by performing at @Eurovision in apartheid Tel Aviv, on the ruins of the ethnically-cleansed village of al-Shaykh Muwannis.#MadonnaDontGo #Eurovision #ESC2019 @EBU_HQ pic.twitter.com/RBPSmTNXy7 — PACBI (@PACBI) April 9, 2019

Speed Sisters, the Middle East’s first all-women racing team, who @Madonna previously heralded as "fighting for freedom in Palestine", urge the star to cancel her performance at @Eurovision hosted by apartheid Israel. #MadonnaDontGo #Eurovision #ESC2019 https://t.co/fHyfnrg2gG pic.twitter.com/6YmKTp4Ne1 — PACBI (@PACBI) April 10, 2019

Almost 40,000 people signed PACBI and Jewish Voice for Peace’s petition, urging Madonna to “stand with us on the right side of history”.

Dozens of Palestinian women artists also wrote an open letter to Madonna: “When the walls come crashing down and freedom and justice finally ring, we invite you to come and share your music with all of us on this land.”

Israeli composer and musician Ohal Grietzer made an appeal to Madonna, writing that she is “ignoring the plea of Palestinian women to stand with them, or at least not interrupt them, as they construct avenues to defend and claim their rights.”

As of publication, Madonna, who has aligned herself with human rights causes throughout her career, has yet to comment on the #MadonnaDontGo campaign. https://t.co/1RrdjRiWgm — VICE (@VICE) May 13, 2019

Madonna eventually made clear that her vaunted human rights support did not extend to heeding the call of the oppressed people she claims to support. PACBI’s response was widely covered by mainstream outlets and international news agencies.

Dear Madonna, Artwashing Israel’s brutal oppression of Palestinians for a million dollars must be among the most immoral political agendas. We urge you and all participants to withdraw from Eurovision. pic.twitter.com/O01NyIQmfq — PACBI (@PACBI) May 14, 2019

Meanwhile, two electronic musicians, Jaakko Eino Kalevi and Onra, withdrew from the EU-sponsored Electrovision beach party, a Eurovision fringe event at the “Eurovision Village” at Tel Aviv’s Charles Clore Park. The park is built on the site of al-Manshiyya, a Palestinian neighborhood ethnically cleansed to make way for the creation of Israel.

I am withdrawing from the Electrovision event at this point as I am now more aware of the widespread opposition to Israel's hosting of Eurovision #Eurovision2019 — Jaakko Eino Kalevi (@JaakkoEino) May 11, 2019

Thank you, Onra, for confirming that you will not perform at the pre-@Eurovision Electrovision beach party, on the ruins of an ethnically-cleansed Palestinian village. We urge all participants in #Eurovision and its associated official events to withdraw.#BoycottEurovision2019 https://t.co/7T9PP5gYgs — PACBI (@PACBI) May 14, 2019

In a sign of BDS’s growing, principled links with diverse grassroots struggles, Barcelona’s long-established LGBT+ center El Casal Lambda cancelled its Eurovision party, citing its “long and extensive experience defending human rights”. Copenhagen’s LGBT+ youth organization cancelled their screening of Eurovision and celebrated the music of iconic Eurovision winners Abba instead, in opposition to Israel’s pinkwashing agenda.

Several insightful features, reports and articles highlighted Israel’s pinkwashing and amplified the voices of queer Palestinian, Israeli and international activists, artists and writers.

Ghadir Shafie, co-director of Aswat, the Palestinian feminist Center For Sexual and Gender Freedoms, and Palestinian LGBT+ activist Elias Wakeem were interviewed by the UK’s Channel 4 News Uncovered report on Israeli pinkwashing.

We speak to the queer BDS campaigners and allies challenging the #Eurovision song contest in solidarity with Palestine:https://t.co/3L39vGHG3p pic.twitter.com/mBf8L4yGJc — Dazed (@Dazed) May 17, 2019

In recent years, I have been swept up in the excitement of #Eurovision. But as the son of a Palestinian refugee and as a gay man, I simply cannot bring myself to take part in the revelries this year.



More from me in the @guardian: https://t.co/tdBvNeZANf — Elias Jahshan (@Elias_Jahshan) May 16, 2019

Belfast’s prestigious Queen’s University student union also cancelled their Eurovision party, and in Melbourne, an LGBT+ bar cancelled the screening of Eurovision during their Australian election night party due to “the human rights concerns with Eurovision this year”.

Dozens of apartheid-free Eurovision parties have been organized around Europe by Eurovision fans and human rights supporters as an alternative to the broadcast from apartheid Tel Aviv.

Several protests and disruptions took place during the week of Eurovision in apartheid Tel Aviv, with international and Israeli activists capturing the attention of the world’s media.

TODAY: Israeli and international activists block the entrance of the #Eurovision opening event in #Tel_Aviv city to protest against Israeli occupation and colonialism, and in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners. Video by: Keren Manor / Activestills pic.twitter.com/8lCtAwBnpy — Activestills (@activestills) May 12, 2019

Last night, in the second @Eurovision semi-final in apartheid Tel Aviv, an activist held a sign reading "#DareToDream an end to the apartheid". Further protests are planned during the contest.#BoycottEurovision2019 #ESC2019 #Eurovision2019 #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/UvxqpUS8GR — PACBI (@PACBI) May 17, 2019

Globalvision, a live-streamed broadcast alternative Eurovision will showcase Palestinian and international artists simultaneous to Eurovision, including Brian Eno, DAM and many more.

Do you love Eurovision? We do! We love #Eurovision nearly as much as we love freedom & justice.

So this year we’re not watching Eurovision.

We’re bringing you Globalvision. ** WATCH FOLLOW SHARE ** #DareToDreamTogether #ESC2019#BoycottEurovision2019 pic.twitter.com/3HCP7VyWWG — Watch Globalvision (@weglobalvision) April 24, 2019

The year-long BDS campaign to boycott Eurovision hosted by apartheid Israel went beyond expectations, winning new support for our human rights movement and building principled links with anti-racist, feminist, LGBT+ and other struggles.

That’s why the BDS movement for Palestinian rights is the true Eurovision winner!

Manchester, UK: Human rights activists called on the @BBC to withdraw from #Eurovision2019 hosted by Israel. Speakers highlighted @Eurovision organisers @EBU_HQ's complicity in artwashing apartheid. And a Palestinian dance company did dabke! #BoycottEurovision2019 #DareToDream pic.twitter.com/YHhXkfluQJ — PACBI (@PACBI) December 6, 2018

Human rights activists in France have written to France Télévisions @Francetele: "How is it possible to speak of an apolitical contest when it is hosted in a country that practices apartheid against the Palestinians?" #BoycottEurovision2019 #Eurovision2019 https://t.co/2tb6qvYv2P pic.twitter.com/ql5PFuG1TF — PACBI (@PACBI) January 11, 2019

Australian broadcaster @SBS weathering internal unrest about its participation in @Eurovision hosted by apartheid Israel. Broadcasters, artists and #Eurovision organizers the @EBU_HQ should stand on the right side of history and #BoycottEurovision2019https://t.co/W1bwZX5BOP pic.twitter.com/bFu5vQEcDD — PACBI (@PACBI) February 7, 2019

#Eurovision: Dancing with Apartheid. Brilliant new video from @ApartheidAds captures the essence of why so many are calling for a boycott of @Eurovision hosted by Israel.#DareToDream #BoycottEurovision2019 pic.twitter.com/PptPwUng6Q — PACBI (@PACBI) March 19, 2019

At the Palestine Marathon last weekend, in the shadow of Israel's apartheid wall in occupied Bethlehem, participants called for the boycott of @Eurovision in apartheid Tel Aviv. #BoycottEurovision2019 #DareToDream #ESC2019 @EBU_HQ pic.twitter.com/ZgHz3kdJpu — PACBI (@PACBI) March 28, 2019

"If you want to enjoy the kitschy song contest, which will take place from 14 to 18 May in Tel Aviv, Israel, then you have got to ignore the bloody political context that surrounds it."https://t.co/IWRGyado6U#BoycottEurovision2019 #ESC2019 #Eurovision2019 @Eurovision @EBU_HQ — PACBI (@PACBI) May 8, 2019