BBC Blasted for Choosing Anti-Israel Eurovision Contestant as Competition Rejects Calls to Boycott Jewish State
by Shiryn Ghermezian
Olly Alexander in the music video for “Sweet Talker.” Photo: YouTube screenshot
The singer chosen by the BBC to represent the United Kingdom in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest has supported claims that Israel is committing genocide, ethnic cleansing, and “crimes against humanity.”
The BBC announced on Dec. 16 that pop singer Olly Alexander, 33, will compete on behalf of the UK at the international music competition, which will be held in Malmö, Sweden in May. The former frontman of the band Years and Years has also been nominated as an actor by the British Academy Film Awards.
In October, Alexander joined thousands in signing an open letter, penned by the LGBTQ activist group Voices4London, that accused Israel of perpetrating a genocide in and occupation of the Gaza Strip, as well as the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians. It further claimed that Israel is committing “unspeakable crimes against humanity” and has an “apartheid regime, which acts to ethnically cleanse the land” while “the Israeli military and Israeli settlers have continued to terrorize Palestinian people.” The letter also alleged that the “Israeli government continues to wipe out entire lineages of Palestinian families” and talked about “Zionist propaganda.”
The Israeli Embassy in the UK criticized the BBC for selecting Alexander for the Eurovision Song Contest after it was revealed that he signed the open letter.
“Clearly [Alexander] graduated from the Middle Eastern School of TikTok,” the embassy tweeted on Thursday. “We would be happy to arrange a trip for you to visit the #October7thMassacre sites in Israel, where the rights of LGBTQ+ are celebrated, protected, and cherished. Unfortunately, our neighbors can’t guarantee the same.” The message was reposted by Israel’s official X/Twitter account.
Campaign Against Antisemitism, a volunteer-based Jewish charity in the UK, also commented on the BBC’s pick on social media, posting, “When nearly seven in ten British Jews feel afraid to express their identity in public, [Alexander] must not be the person to represent our country.”
The BBC has been urged to drop Alexander as the UK’s act in the Eurovision Song Contest, but the public broadcaster has no plans to take any action against the singer since he signed the anti-Israel letter before he was chosen to represent Britain, according to The Telegraph.
The recent controversy surrounding next year’s Eurovision contest comes amid calls from musicians in Iceland to have Israel banned from the competition because of its ongoing war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza. However, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the contest, released a statement rejecting the demand to boycott Israel and reaffirming the country’s participation in the competition.
Israel has yet to announce its representative for next year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The Jewish state has been competing in the international competition since 1973 and has won four times, most recently in 2018 with Netta Barzilai’s song Toy. This year’s representative from Israel, Noa Kirel, came in third place during the contest in Liverpool.
