Helen Mirren, Scooter Braun and Mayim Bialik are some of the more than 400 celebrities who sent a letter Wednesday to the European Broadcasting Union in support of including of Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest to be held on May 11 in Malmö, Sweden.
The letter comes amid a series of petitions asking Europe to ban the country, which is immersed in a war against Hamas, from participating in the well-known singing competition. In response, celebrities and senior executives from the entertainment industry sent a letter asking Eurovision's organizer to ignore these requests and allow Israel to participate, as it has been doing for years:
We, the undersigned members of the entertainment industry, are writing to express our support for Israel’s continued inclusion in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest. We have been shocked and disappointed to see some members of the entertainment community calling for Israel to be banished from the Contest for responding to the greatest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. October 7th was a day in which a music festival meant to celebrate life was attacked by Hamas and saw 364 innocent civilians killed, hundreds maimed and brutalized, over 40 festivalgoers taken hostage, and many raped.
Eurovision: A contest of unity
The letter, published by the organization Creative Community for the Peace, goes on to ensure that Eurovision, as a cultural contest, should serve to unify and not create further division, something that could happen if Israel is banned:
We believe that unifying events such as singing competitions are crucial to help bridge our cultural divides and unite people of all backgrounds through their shared love of music. Those who are calling for Israel’s exclusion are subverting the spirit of the Contest and turning it from a celebration of unity into a tool of politics.
Mayim Bialik, star of "The Big Bang Theory," in addition to signing the letter, expressed her sincere opinion about the inclusion of Israel in the contest. In the letter, the actress assured that calling for a boycott of Israeli artists is "abhorrent and shameful":
After a horrendous violent attack on Israeli civilians, calls for boycotts and excluding Israeli artists from international events simply because they are Israeli is abhorrent and shameful. Targeting Israeli musicians in this way tarnishes the unifying spirit that is Eurovision.
