SIPTU RTÉ members say Israeli involvement in Eurovision is “whitewashing genocide”

SIPTU members employed in RTÉ have joined their colleagues in the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in calling for the suspension of Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest stating that to do otherwise is ‘whitewashing genocide’.

SIPTU Deputy General Secretary, Greg Ennis said: “SIPTU members in RTÉ stand with their colleagues in the NUJ who have called on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to suspend Israel’s participation in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

“As Israel prepares to take to the Eurovision stage this evening, we wholeheartedly condemn the EBU’s repeated refusal to take responsibility, to show moral leadership and to cease providing a global platform for Israeli advocacy.

By doing so the EBU is normalising and whitewashing Israel’s genocidal actions and war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, which has turned Palestine into the greatest humanitarian crisis in generations.”

He added: “We welcome the approach of RTÉ Director General, Kevin Bakhurst and RTÉ’s Director of Video, Steve Carson, in pressing this issue with the EBU and raising with it ‘RTÉ’s concerns.

“However, we urge RTÉ to push the EBU to go further, as they did in expelling Russia in 2022, and suspend the involvement of Israel in this year’s contest.”

SIPTU Divisional Organiser, Adrian Kane, said: “While we are supposed to accept Israel’s involvement in the Eurovision is merely a cultural matter, at the same time its Government is refusing to allow a leading Palestinian intellectual to travel to take part in the Robert Tressell Festival in Dublin later this month.

“While Israel wishes to present itself as a ‘normal democracy’ it fails to even give a semblance of respect to international law and allow Omar Barghouti, a man accused of no crime, to travel freely to this festival of ideas taking place in Liberty Hall on 24th May.

“It is about time the world accepts Israel is far from a normal country but one which is based on an apartheid system and a genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people which is being waged in all spheres including the cultural.

“We stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine, including the many media workers who have been killed and continue to be targeted deliberately by Israeli forces in Gaza.

“Israel must be held to account not allowed to hide its genocide behind a sick charade of normality.”