'Cultural genocide': Palestinian musicians urge Eurovision boycott over Israel's inclusion

Palestinian musicians have called for a boycott of Eurovision over its platforming of Israel while the genocide continues in Gaza.

Speaking on the same day the contest’s semi-finals began, Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank said their culture was being destroyed in real time as millions tuned in to watch the country responsible.

Under the campaign headline #VoteJustice4Palestine, they urged those boycotting Eurovision to share online The Drone Song, a song recorded by Ahmed Abu Amsha in Gaza City that went viral last year.

Eleni Mustaklem, public relations and fundraising officer at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, told a webinar on Tuesday that Palestinians had been facing a "cultural genocide" for decades.

"It is important that we’re here today since we are taking part in one of the largest boycotts in 70 years here," she said speaking from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

"Today it is our duty to show what it means to be an artist in Palestine. We would like to thank every person choosing to look beyond the glamorous festivities of the contest."

The Drone Song, based on an older Palestinian folk song, was inspired by the sound of Israeli drones buzzing over Gaza.

Abu Amsha, who is also a coordinator for the Edward Said National Conservatory and has been displaced 15 times, said he had been playing music with children in Gaza as a means of therapy.

"We had a session, music with the kids, they were singing and suddenly a drone comes in. It was annoying, very loud, we can’t hear each other," he said, speaking via camera from Gaza City.

He said the sound of the drone was so overwhelming that the children said they needed to stop practising.

"Imagine that this drone is the background of the music and holding one note and we’re gonna sing a song with it…to turn the sound of the war into something beautiful."

Iman Hammouri, director of the Popular Art Centre in Ramallah, said Israel had been involved in a campaign since its founding in 1948 to erase Palestinian cultural heritage.

"Since the Nakba in 1948, Israeli colonialism has consistently sought to portray Palestinians as people without a narrative and without a cultural heritage," she told the event.

"It has worked to this day to erase Palestinian heritage and cultural identity."

She hailed the resilience of Palestinians artists and cultural campaigners in the face of Israeli violence.

"Artists in Gaza have continued to work with extraordinary passion…their voice has become a cry for freedom and justice," she said.

Boycotts and condemnation

The 2026 Eurovision Song Contest has been one of the most controversial in its history.

Israel's participation has seen Spain, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Slovenia withdraw from the contest, while many artists and campaigners have urged a boycott.

Last month, more than a thousands musicians - including Brian Eno, Massive Attack, Kneecap, Idles, Sigur Ros, Erika de Casier, Dry Cleaning, Mogwai, Macklemore, Primal Scream, Hot Chip, Smerz and Black Country - signed petition condemning Israel's participation in the contest.

There has been repeated criticism of the European Broadcasting Union's decision to expel Russia from the contest in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine, but not take similar action against Israel.

So far, Spain is the only country from the so-called "Big Five", the states that automatically qualify for the contest, to have pulled out.

In September, following the Spanish announcement, Middle East Eye asked the UK's Department for Culture, Media and Sport for comment on the controversy, but was told it would not comment and deferred to the BBC, which oversees the UK's involvement in Eurovision.

MEE also contacted the musicians representing the UK, France and Germany in the 2026 contest but received no response.

More than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023, with thousands more missing and presumed dead under the rubble, and the majority of the enclave destroyed.

Hundreds have been killed since the second phase of a US-brokered ceasefire came into effect on 14 January, a week before Israel was selected for the contest.

The 1994 Eurovision winner Charlie McGettigan, who was a signatory to the "No Music For Genocide" petition, traced his involvement to Israel's win of the 2018 Eurovision, just days after which, its forces shot dead 62 Palestinians in Gaza, including six children, during the peaceful Great March of Return protests.

"Now if that had happened in our country, and if 62 people had been murdered like that, we certainly wouldn't be celebrating winning Eurovision," he told MEE last week.

"When you look back at people like Pete Seeger from the 1960s, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, all these artists have used their music to promote peace, to draw attention to injustice," he said.