Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest say they reserve the right to remove any Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian symbols at the show next week in Sweden.

Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest said Thursday they reserve the right to remove any Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian symbols at the show next week in Sweden.

The announcement came amid heightened tensions surrounding Israel’s participation in the annual music competition over its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, now in its seventh month. Pro-Palestinian groups are expected to stage large protests in Malmo to raise awareness of their cause.

Michelle Roverelli, the head of communications for the European Broadcasting Union that runs the show each year, said ticket holders are only allowed to bring and display flags representing countries that take part in the event, as well as the rainbow-colored flag.

  • @[email protected]English
    -26•1 month ago

    Why would they be?

    Ukraine was attacked by Russia which started a war. Israel was attacked by Palestine which started a war. You should be asking if Russian flags and symbols will also be banned if you want to find an equivalence.

    • @corsicanguppyEnglish
      11•1 month ago

      Israel was attacked by

      … guerillas from …

      Palestine which

      … gave Israel the pretext it’d hoped for after decades of subjugation, of land theft, and victimization, so Irael followed their plan and …

      started a war

      There. Fixed that for ya.

      • @[email protected]English
        3•30 days ago

        Palestine was attacked by

        … guerillas from …

        Europe which

        created decades of subjugation, of land theft, and victimization, so Irael followed their plan and…

        started their Holocaust

    • @[email protected]English
      10•1 month ago

      Good job demonstrating that you only started paying attention to the Israel/Palestine conflict last year lol

        • @[email protected]English
          9•1 month ago

          I’ve been anti-jihadist since 2001 and anti-Hamas since I learned about them a few years ago so we have something in common.

          However I’ve also been anti-Israeli government since I learned of their persistent oppression of the Palestinian people around the same time.

          Please don’t conflate my opposition of one government with the support of another. And don’t confuse my hatred of a country’s government with a hatred of its citizens - I am not anti-Israeli.

    • @[email protected]English
      5•1 month ago

      Official figures from Israel’s internal security agency registered a 15% increase in individual Palestinian attacks on civilians and soldiers across Israel and the Occupied Territories in the first seven months of the year compared to the same period last year. In 2022, the agency counted 1,317 uses of fire or pipe bombs, shootings, arson, and stabbings compared to 1,522 in 2023.

      Palestinian fears grow amid rising Israeli settler attacks

      • @[email protected]English
        2•30 days ago

        How did you choose that excerpt? The headline and most of the contents are about Israeli violence. The preceding sentence immediately before your excerpt is this:

        The head of the Israeli Shin Bet domestic security service was recently quoted as warning that the spike in settler attacks was in turn driving Palestinians to attack Israelis saying: “Jewish terror incites Palestinian terror.”

        And the rest of that paragraph is about various revenge attacks.

      • @[email protected]English
        -1•27 days ago

        No, I’m quite happy to not support jihadist terrorist organisations like Hamas, ISIS, Hezbollah, the Taliban, etc. But you do you if you think that’s the moral high ground