Under the slogan ‘No song for genocide’, the collectives BDS Greece, March to Gaza Greece, the Cultural Network for Palestine and the Palestinian Community of Greece are organising a protest calling for Israel to be excluded from the Eurovision Song Contest.
The rally is scheduled for Sunday 15 February 2026 at 7pm, outside the Athens Festival Hall (Piraeus Street 260), where the Greek national final to select the country’s entry for the international competition will take place.
Vangelio Sotiropoulou, a member of BDS Greece, spoke to Konstantinos Poulis and Thanos Kamilalis at TPP about the mobilisation against what organisers describe as Israel’s cultural whitewashing through Eurovision.
In its detailed call, BDS Greece states:
‘On 15 February 2026, the national final for the selection of the song that will represent the country in this year’s Eurovision contest will take place at the Athens Festival Hall.’
The statement argues that Eurovision is not ‘above politics’, citing decisions by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to ban Belarus from participating in 2021 and Russia from 2022 for political reasons.
According to the organisers, ‘Eurovision is an institution that ultimately functions as a mechanism for cultural whitewashing of Israel’s crimes through art.’ They claim that Israel seeks to project itself internationally as a ‘normal state’ while continuing policies they describe as genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid in Palestine, even under the guise of a ‘truce’. They also refer to major sponsors with Israeli interests and to allegations of directed voting.
The statement further alleges that Eurovision instrumentalises LGBTQI+ and disability rights movements to construct a façade of inclusivity while ignoring ‘the right of an entire people to life’.
The collectives say that calls for Israel to be excluded from Eurovision until international law is respected are growing. They refer to positions taken in Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland, as well as to public interventions by artists, including Nemo, winner of the 2024 competition, and the Norwegian duo Ylvis. They also cite statements by Portugal’s Festival da Canção participants and by Italian singer Levante at the Sanremo Festival.
In Greece, the Panhellenic Federation of the Performing Arts (POTHA), the Panhellenic Federation of Radio and Television Personnel Associations (POSPERT) and the Panhellenic Music Association (PMS) have called on the public broadcaster ERT to press for Israel’s exclusion.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel has also called for Israel to be boycotted, or for broadcasters of participating countries to withdraw if Israel remains in the competition. The campaign states: ‘We demand the exclusion of genocidal Israel from Eurovision until the crimes stop and international law is respected.’
The organisers argue that Israel has long used participation in international cultural events to ‘promote its propaganda’ and to conceal what they describe as occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing. They state that Israel’s continued participation, ‘especially after the UN’s official recognition of the genocide in Gaza’, amounts to complicity in and laundering of war crimes.
‘Music unites peoples and promotes peace, it does not wash away genocides and war crimes,’ the statement concludes.
The collectives call on the EBU to exclude Israel, on ERT to withdraw from the competition if Israel participates, on artists to take a public stand, and on citizens to boycott Eurovision should Israel remain in the contest.
‘Silence is complicity. Free Palestine!’
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