‘BOYCOTT NEXT YEAR’S EUROVISION IN ISRAEL’
TV host Murphy and former winner Mcgettigan in call to snub contest
TV host Mike Murphy and Eurovision winner Charlie Mcgettigan have called for Ireland to boycott next year’s song contest in Israel.
This comes after the Irish Mirror reported the Lord Mayor of Dublin urged the public to snub the event in Tel Aviv.
Broadcaster Murphy said Ireland needs to make a stand.
He added: “I think this is an opportunity now where boycott comes right into it, and this is where we need to stand up and be counted and say,
‘We’re not competing’.” Co Donegal star Mcgettigan and Paul Harrington won Eurovision in 1994 with their hit Rock n Roll Kids. Speaking after almost 60 Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops in Gaza on Monday, Mcgettigan said Ireland should boycott the event if it is not held in another Charlie Mcgettigan country or cancelled. He told Joe Duffy on RTE Radio One: “It was dreadful seeing [Israel prime minister] Netanyahu and the Trumps celebrating while people are dead.
“It’s a chance for the whole of Europe who are involved in Eurovision to say, ‘Look, we don’t agree with this’.”
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein Lord Mayor Micheal Mac Donncha said he feels entering next year’s competition in May would not be appropriate because of Israel’s ongoing conflict with Palestine.
He added Ireland should show solidarity with the Palestinian people by refusing to enter.
The Dublin councillor said: “I don’t think we should send a representative.
“I think the horrific ordeal of the Palestinian people needs to be highlighted. There needs to be solidarity just as there was with the people of South Africa with the apartheid regime.
“The Irish-palestine solidarity campaign has collected the names of 500 artists who have said they would not work in the state of Israel.”