Dear Eurovision contestants,

We are Israeli artists, musicians, filmmakers, and authors. Many of us signed a letter supporting Palestinian calls to relocate the Eurovision Song Contest from Tel Aviv. Here’s why.

We, as Jewish Israelis who yearn to live in a peaceful, democratic society, recognize that there is no way to achieve that without ending our government’s oppression of millions of Palestinians. A society can’t be considered democratic if it keeps a military rule over millions, denying them basic rights, including the right to vote. What does democracy mean when one fifth of Israeli citizens, Palestinian Arabs, are denied equal rights by law?

Our young men and women are obliged to serve in the Israeli occupation army, participating in perpetrating all sorts of crimes against Palestinians, including maintaining an illegal siege of Gaza.

“We will forever live by the sword,” promised our fanatic prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Well, we do not wish to live by the sword! We want to live normal, peaceful lives, without oppressing or subjugating anyone. We don’t want our children to join an army that most of the world accuses of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In Tel Aviv itself Israel displaces the indigenous Palestinians of Jaffa using economic and legalistic means, evicting families, demolishing homes, and neglecting and defunding whole neighborhoods.

You are due to perform at the Tel Aviv Expo center, on the ruins of the Palestinian village of al-Shaykh Muwannis, whose residents were forcibly displaced and never allowed to return.

We have thought deeply about your scheduled performances. On one hand, it would so wonderful to hear your music and your messages of inclusivity. On the other, this message will be delivered in Tel Aviv, which Israel uses as means of public relations, to distract from its military occupation, apartheid policies, and ethnic cleansing against the indigenous Palestinian people. It would be the perfect diversion.

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. Palestinian artists have urged you to pull out of Eurovision, and we join their call, for their sake and for our own futures.

Sincerely,

Aviad Albert, musician

Shlomit Altman, artist

Meira Asher, sound artist

Kerem Blumberg, filmmaker

Dror Dayan, filmaker

Anat Even, filmmaker

Ohal Grietzer, musician

Nir Harel, artist

Avi Hershkovitz, film director

Liad Hussein Kantorowicz, performance artist

Noki Katan, DJ

Jonathan Ofir, conductor and violinist.

Hagar Ophir, installation and performance artist

David Oppenheim, artist, musician

Michal Peleg, writer

Nira Pereg, artist

Timna Peretz, filmmaker

Sigal Primor, artist

Danielle Ravitzki, musician, visual artist

Ben Ronen, visual artist

Michal Sapir, musician, writer

Anka Schneidermann, artist

Yonatan Shapira, musician

Eyal Sivan, documentary filmmaker

Eran Torbiner, documentary filmmaker

Eyal Vexler, art and cultural producer and curator

Oriana Weich, artist