The young Austrian artist JJ, winner of Eurovision 2025, lamented Israel’s participation in the competition despite the deadly offensive in Gaza, hoping that he would be excluded in 2026, in an interview published this Thursday, May 22 by the country.
“It is very disappointing to see that Israel continues to participate in the competition,” said the 24 -year -old in the Spanish newspaper.
“I would like next year, Eurovision takes place in Vienna without Israel. But the ball is in the” of the organizer, the European Radio-Television (Uuer) camp, recalled. “Artists, we can only express ourselves on the subject.”
“Greater transparency” for public vote
Johannes Piettsch, also known as JJ, also requested “greater transparency” with respect to the public vote, which promoted the Israeli singer and survivor on Saturday in second place in the bloody attack on October 7, 2023, Yuval Raphael.
He had hidden under a stack of bodies, pretending to be dead, while the men armed with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas were massejacing several hundred attendees of the festival in the scene of a techno party in southern Israel. That day, Hamas killed 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data.
JJ’s words made waves in Austria, one of Israel’s most loyal supporters in Europe: the singer said he was, through his Warner record company, “I’m sorry if his statements had been misunderstood”, while the Public Television Orf has distanced himself from the words “reflecting a personal opinion,” according to the APA agency.
A position shared by Pedro Sánchez
This Monday, the Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez, very critical of the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, had also tried that Israel should be excluded from the Eurovision for “solidarity with the people of Palestine that (lives) the absurdity of war and bombing.”
“We cannot have a double standard in terms of culture,” said Pedro Sánchez, while Russia had been expelled from the competition after the invasion of Ukraine.
Faced with the catastrophic humanitarian situation and the intensification of Israeli military operations in Gaza, many European countries have increased the pressure on Israel this week.
The Israeli retaliation campaign in the attacks of October 7, 2023 left at least 53,762 dead in Gaza, mainly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Hamas, considered reliable by the UN.
With respect to another issue, the Austrian contractor deplored “the conservative regression” of Europe about the rights of LGBT+, whose flags were prohibited on stage. And he intends to use his new notoriety “to defend the rights of the entire queer community and guarantee more equality.”
Source: BFM TV
