Abusing Eurovision hopeful over Israel ‘shameful’
Actor calls on anti-Israel campaigners to get behind our Sarah’s Tel Aviv bid
ACTOR Rory Cowan has told Eurovision boycotters, which include renowned musician Donal Lunny and former song contest winner Charlie McGettigan, to ‘mind their own business’.
This year the Eurovision will take place in Tel Aviv, which has sparked fury from campaigners, who object to Israel’s treatment of Palestinian people.
Irish entrant Sarah McTernan will perform the song, entitled 22, at the song contest semi-finals in the Expo convention centre, Tel Aviv, on May 16.
Protests have been staged outside the RTÉ campus in Montrose, Donnybrook over the past few months and a petition of 16,000 signatures has been handed to the broadcaster’s Director General Dee Forbes. The protests have been led by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Actors Rynagh O’Grady joined Lunny and McGettigan in making the protest, with Lunny warning music lovers that Israel was using the song contest as a political tool. But Cowan, the former Mrs Brown’s Boys star, believes the anti-Israel protests have no place at the international song contest.
He said: ‘I have my flights booked and I will be over there with Linda Martin and Marty Whelan. I hope Sarah gets through to the final because she has had to go through so much just because she is Ireland’s entry to the Eurovision in Tel Aviv.
‘I think it should be above politics and protest. I mean if this girl was performing in Spain nobody would bat an eyelid. But she is in Israel now and people are abusing her online. It is shameful and wrong.’
The 24-year-old singer is from Scariff in Co. Clare, and came third in The Voice Of Ireland in 2015.
Since the announcement, her participation in the contest has been the subject of online discussion, with many angry protesters calling on her not to take part in the contest.
However, Cowan insists this is online bullying and should be stopped. He said: ‘The abuse that this poor girl was getting online was just disgraceful and disgusting and wrong.
‘I mean she is just 24 and she has this honour of getting to sing for her country and people are ruining it for her. I mean if they don’t like Israel then they don’t have to watch the show,’ he said.
He added: ‘I think people who are boycotting the show should mind their own business. Israel has been in the contest for years and they didn’t have a problem competing against them. Suddenly they win and there is this public outcry and it is not right.’
Sarah has a history with the Eurovision Song Contest.
In 2017, she competed to represent San Marino in that year’s Eurovision with a song called Eye of the Storm.
Over 430 songs were submitted for consideration for Ireland’s song choice, before 22 was selected.
Cowan, who has been visiting Israel regularly for over two decades, believes that we should support Sarah like we would any Irish team.
He recalls the support people had for the Irish cricket team in the World Cup and believes it is pure hypocrisy to support them and not Sarah’s Eurovision bid.
‘I am not saying that people should go to Israel and support them. That is a personal choice. I am going and that is my decision because I have lots of friends over there,’ he said.
He added: ‘This girl is representing her country. It is wrong to try and take that away from her.
‘This is the Eurovision and it is a TV show. They won’t be promoting Israel, or using it as a political tool,’ he said.
‘Sarah has had to go through so much’
‘Suddenly Israel wins and there is this outcry’