LONDON, Saturday, November 24, 2018 (WAFA) – Three Manchester, England-based pro-Palestine groups called on European artists and performers to #BoycottEurovision2019 hosted by Israel.

Manchester Palestine Action, Manchester Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Manchester Jewish Action for Palestine urged in a tweet songwriters and performers to boycott the contest that will be held in Israel, winner of the last Eurovision contest, “just as they once boycotted the South African apartheid regime,” stressing that “Israel regularly uses culture to cover up, justify and distract from its oppressive regime of military occupation and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”

The three groups called for a protest at the BBC Headquarters in London on December 1 to demand that the British Broadcasting Corporation withdraws from the 2019 Eurovision song contest. “Join the protest and take a stand against BBC artwashing apartheid,” they said.

“We demand an end to Brand Israel‘s whitewashing of Israel‘s crimes against the Palestinian people, most recently the massacre of 220 unarmed protesters and the ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population,” said the groups.

“Just days after Israel‘s Eurovision win, Israeli forces massacred 62 Palestinians in Gaza, including six children, as they demonstrated for freedom and refugee rights. Since the Great Return March protests began on March 30th, 2018 at least 205 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the besieged Gaza Strip. More than 18,000 others have been injured, including thousands shot with live fire.”

The three organizations, who are active in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, called on “all concerned individuals to take a stand for the Palestinians, still occupied, still violently forced from their land and still killed mercilessly under Israel‘s apartheid regime.”

M.K.