Charlie McGettigan joins artists calling for Israel to be expelled from Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision winner Charlie McGettigan was “delighted” to join scores of previous participants in demanding the expulsion of Israel from this month’s Eurovision Song Contest.

The 1994 winner, with Paul Harrington, of the competition said it was the “obvious thing” to do when asked to sign the letter from Artists for Palestine calling on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to ban the Israel public broadcaster Kan from the contest.

Mr McGettigan joined three other former Irish Eurovision contestants – Mickey Harte, Brian Kennedy and Mark Caplice – in calling for the Israel ban.

In all, more than 70 artists who have taken part in previous contests, including lyricists, composers and singers, are calling for the ban.

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“By continuing to platform the representation of the Israeli state, the EBU is normalising and whitewashing its crimes,” they have said in an open letter.

Mr McGettigan said he believed the song contest should be used to raise awareness of how Palestinians were being treated in the conflict.

“When we see what is going on in Gaza, on our televisions, every evening, it is horrifying, it is pitiful,” he said.

“The Eurovision Song Contest has an audience of 200 million around the world. People love Eurovision. If we can use that platform to make people aware, it should be used.”

The call comes as journalists at RTÉ voted to ask the broadcaster to formally oppose Israel’s participation in the contest.

Noting “Israel’s current blockade on vital humanitarian supplies ... its air strikes in densely populated civilian areas in Gaza, and, its operations in the West Bank”, the broadcasting branch of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) says RTÉ “should reflect the Irish State’s public opposition to Israel’s actions in Palestine”.

Following a meeting on Tuesday at RTÉ, the union branch voted to write to the RTÉ board and director general Kevin Bakhurst, asking them to join other European broadcasters in formally objecting to the EBU about Israel’s place in the contest.

Israel will be one of 37 countries taking part in the competition that takes place between May 13th and 17th in Basle, Switzerland.

The Middle Eastern state will compete for a place in the final in the second semi-final on May 15th, having finished in fifth place last year with 375 points.

The journalists intend to tell RTÉ: “This week Iceland’s public broadcaster, RÚV, joined national broadcasters in Slovenia and Spain in publicly opposing Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, citing its failure to uphold its international humanitarian obligations in Gaza.

“In this regard, the RTÉ NUJ sub-branch urges you to formally write to the EBU stating RTÉ’s clear opposition to Israel’s participation in Eurovision and to align with other broadcasters in applying public pressure on the EBU to ensure that it acts.”

They say the “strong public sentiment across Ireland ... abhors Israel’s actions” and they believe RTÉ “as an EBU member, should reflect the Irish State’s public opposition to Israel’s actions in Palestine”.

Citing the “targeting and killing of Palestinian media workers” by Israel, the NUJ says RTÉ should object to Israel’s presence in the contest “not just on moral grounds” but to uphold its statutory and EBU-membership obligations.

“The EBU director general, Noel Curran, justified Russia’s suspension based on Russian broadcasters’ ‘persistent breaches of membership obligations and the violation of public service media values’,” they say, noting also section 70 of the Broadcasting Act, which mandates public service broadcasters to “uphold the democratic values enshrined in the Constitution” in its programming.

“We believe that Kan ... is ... in persistent breach of its EBU membership obligations (specifically Art 3.7.1) which obliges broadcasters to ‘further the purposes of the EBU’, which includes ‘the safeguarding and improving freedom of expression and information’ (Art 1.2.2).”

Chair of the NUJ Dublin broadcasting branch Emma Ó Kelly said on Tuesday: “The position of our members is clear. We do not believe that Israel should be allowed to participate in this year’s Eurovision, and we hope that RTÉ will adopt the same view.”

A spokesperson for RTÉ said Mr Bakhurst would take time to review the NUJ correspondence when he returns from annual leave on Wednesday.

The EBU said it “understand the concerns and deeply held views around the current conflict in the Middle East”.

“The EBU is not immune to global events but, together, with our members, it is our role to ensure the contest remains – at its heart – a universal event that promotes connections, diversity and inclusion through music”.

The Israel public service broadcaster Kan have been contacted for comment.