Thunberg says Israel is ‘art washing’ Eurovision

Greta Thunberg has said that Israel is trying to “artwash” the Eurovision Song Contest after she joined pro-palestinian protesters, who are calling for a boycott of the competition.

Israeli act Eden Golan, whose emotional song Hurricane was reworked from a previous track called Octoberrain, which was thought to reference the Hamas attacks on Israel, will take part in the final this evening in Malmo Arena.

The 20-year-old singer was congratulated by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said he was “proud” of the young star.

Rishi Sunak hit out at the demonstrations saying they were “wrong” and called the push for a boycott of Israel “unfair ”, a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said.

“In a post on X yesterday, the Swedish climate campaigner, whose mother Malena Ernman represented Sweden in the competition in 2009, said: “People from all over Sweden are gathering in Malmo this week, where Eurovision is taking place, to protest against Israel’s participation in the competition and to demand a #Freepalestine and #Ceasefirenow.

“Yesterday we were tens of thousands people flooding the streets of Malmo. We will not accept that a country currently committing genocide is allowed a platform to artwash themselves.”

Artwashing describes the use of artistic performance to distract from perceived negative actions by people, groups, governments or countries.

The Euro vision Broadcasting union has also cancelled a media conference withuk entry Olly Alexander and the other acts who did not need to compete in the semifinals after netherlands representative JoostK le in was told earlier he could not rehearse.

Swedish police said 10,000 to 12,000 pro-palestinian protesters who marched through Malmo on Thursday were “very peaceful”.