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Should Ireland Boycott Next Year's Eurovision in Israel?
(Irish Examiner) Editorial - "Celebrities and public figures" assembled by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign have called to boycott next year's Eurovision song contest, which is to be hosted by Israel. The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which is active throughout the Western world, promotes the vilification of the State of Israel and contributes nothing to the achievement of a lasting two-state solution that guarantees Israel's security and establishes a successful, neighboring homeland for Palestinians. Such boycotts would have no impact one way or the other on the policies of Israel's government which, lest it be conveniently overlooked, represents the region's only democracy and whose highest priority is the protection of its citizens from those whose wish is to wipe the country off the map. There is in this campaign, endorsed in Ireland by notable gay and feminist activists, the refrain of hypocrisy. The boycott brigade, marching for human rights and social justice, sees Israel's defense of itself as a primarily Jewish state as a war crime. We look forward to reporting its demands for an international boycott of, say, Saudi Arabia or Iran where, when we last looked, gay and feminist activists would not be tolerated.