#bds has called for boycott of eurovision ONE YEAR which was the year israel was hosting | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

eretzyisrael · 4 years

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Regular readers will be aware of BBC Watch’s long-standing documentation of the BBC’s problematic portrayal of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS). For years the corporation has reported related stories without adequately clarifying to audiences in its own words that what that campaign ultimately seeks to achieve is the end of Israel as the Jewish state. Moreover, in August 2015, we learned that the BBC considers the provision of such crucial background information “not our role“.

In 2019 we saw that even when covering stories directly related to individual supporters of the BDS campaign, the BBC continued to avoid the obviously central issue of what the campaign they promote is actually about.

Such was the case for example in the generous BBC amplification of the story of Omar Shakir of ‘Human Rights Watch’. Descriptions of the BDS campaign were qualified using the phrase “Israel says” and suggested reading twice included a link to a previous BBC report promoting the falsehood that the BDS campaign solely relates to a “cultural boycott” of Israel.

BBC News report uncritically amplifies political NGO’s talking points

A third superficial BBC News website report on ‘Human Rights Watch’

Listeners to BBC World Service radio were inaccurately informed that the BDS campaign is “Palestinian led” and given a false portrayal of its aims.

BBC WS radio facilitates unchallenged HRW monologue – part one

The same editorial policy was also seen in BBC coverage of stories relating to two BDS supporting US Congresswomen. Although the topic of the agenda of the BDS campaign was obviously relevant to the story, audiences were not provided with a proper explanation.

BBC R4 report on antisemitism in the US uses the Livingstone Formulation

In one report BBC audiences were told that the “aim” of the BDS campaign is “to put economic pressure on the Israeli government”. In others, no effort whatsoever was made to inform audiences what the two Congresswomen actually support.

Superficial BBC reporting of Tlaib and Omar story

BBC Radio 4’s uncritical amplification of Ilhan Omar’s falsehood

BBC WS radio listeners get Ashrawi’s unchallenged propaganda

BBC audiences saw amplification of a specific boycott campaign, inadequate portrayal of the BDS campaign which did not allow readers to put a quote into context and quotes from BDS supporters who were not identified as such.

But by far the most intense campaign conducted by the BBC throughout 2019 related to the Eurovision Song Contest. Having rejected the calls of BDS supporters to boycott the event in Tel Aviv, the BBC then spent four months amplifying such campaigns, with an epilogue two months later.

BBC News Eurovision BDS report follows the usual template

BBC Radio Ulster audiences hear that ‘Israel should be wiped off the map’

BBC News website ignores counter call to boycott it repeatedly promoted

More Eurovision boycott promotion on BBC Radio 5 live

Newsbeat continues the BBC’s Eurovision framing

Context-free amplification of Eurovision boycott calls persists at BBC News

BBC gives multi-platform amplification to antisemitism

BBC’s ‘Newsbeat’ amplifies the BDS campaign yet again

Some of those reports included descriptions of the BDS campaign which were qualified using the phrase “Israel says” while others included inaccurate portrayals of the campaign as a “Palestinian led movement” which “calls on artists to avoid performing in Israel”. None of that content clarified to audiences in the BBC’s own words that the BDS campaign is opposed to Jews having the basic human right to self-determination in their own country and that denial of Israel’s right to exist is considered – including by the UN Secretary General and according to the definition adopted by the UK government – to be a form of antisemitism.

The adoption of that partisan editorial policy – especially while providing self-conscripted amplification for the BDS campaign – clearly does not serve the interests of the BBC’s funding public but does seriously compromise the BBC’s claim to be ‘impartial’.

#bbc #israel #anti-israel bias #bbc watch #eurovision #eurovision song contest

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diamondorloj · 5 years

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You are so smart and well educated, especially regarding Israel and Jewish history, so I hope you don't mind if I ask you to help me, an uneducated (and to be honest mostly ignorant towards politics because of personal issues) person, to graps what the fuss is about all the political statements during ESC this year? I'm really confused and used google but I understand like maybe half of what's going on. Sorry to bother you.

Hey, thank you for coming to me. First off, I have studied and learned a lot abut the topics, but they’re very complex and full of details beyond my grasp. I’ll try to make this short, but your ask was a little broad and calls for a couple of explanations.

First off, there are rules against political statements and activism in every Eurovision song contest. For example, the only flags allowed in the arenas are the flags of UN states and of the EU, as well as unpolitical flags like the rainbow or the trans flag. In 2016, there was a conflict because the Armenian delegation held up a flag of Bergkarabach, which is debatable territory between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Now, here’s the EBU statement: “In the live broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final, Hatari, the Icelandic act, briefly displayed small Palestinian banners whilst sat in the Green Room. The Eurovision Song Contest is a non-political event and this directly contradicts the contest’s rules. The banners were quickly removed and the consequences of this action will be discussed by the Reference Group (the contest’s executive board) after the contest.”

Determining a course of action on legal grounds based on the flag rule is going to be a little difficult because as of 29th November 2012, Palestine was granted the status of an observer state in the UN. However, showing the Palestine flag in Israel, on an Israelian stage, is considered political activism (and just generally…bad).

To briefly touch on the history of the Palestinian and Israelian conflict is almost impossible. The area of today’s Israel and Palestine used to belong to the Osmanian Empire, which shattered in 1922 officially and for a huge number of reasons. Great Britain took over mandate control for the area they then called Palestine, until it was possible to establish its own state. This was a common idea of the time for colonies that were supposed to be supported on their way to independency. Jews had fled to this area for centuries, but especially so during the 19th century because of rising antisemitism in Europe. While it wasn’t exactly pleasant to live as dimmi, people of the books and second-class citizens, it was relatively safe and peaceful, and Arab people happily sold their land to Jewish immigrants.

The idea of safety for the Jewish people led to the idea of a Jewish state, which is zionism. However, there were many options discussed as to where this Jewish state should be installed – among them were Uganda and Argentina. In the end, it probably was a mixture of many factors, like the Jewish connection to the land of Israel and Jerusalem, the fact that many Jewish people had bought land in Palestine for a relatively good price and that a lot of Jewish communities already lived there. Great Britain agreed to install a Jewish state, however they also installed the Great Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, and he incited violence and pogroms against the Jewish people. He vehemently opposed the existence of any Jewish state and also collaborated with the Nazis, organised a Muslim garnison in the SS, and is responsible for many people dying in the Holocaust because he prevented them from fleeing to Palestine.

So, after the Holocaust, the calls for a Jewish state for the Jewish people got louder because it had been made abundantly clear that no other state would guarantee their safety and survival. The UN was very newly installed and kinda improvised a new solution for the territorial conflict: There should be both a Jewish state, called Israel, and an Arab state, called Palestine. Jerusalem should stay under UN control. It was a hasty, imperfect plan, however the Jews accepted while the Arabs declined and the Arab nations surrounding Israel declared war on the same day Israel was founded. Against all odds, Israel won the wars and exists to this day. During the war, there were many refugees on both sides. Israel advertised for Arab people to stay and granted them full citizen rights. The Arab states called for Arabs to leave the places of war and conflict and were promised they could return to their homes when the war was over aka Israel destroyed. Well, guess what. Many refugees of these days and their decendants fled to Syria, Jordan, Egypt but were not taken in and instead were used against Israel. To this day, there are refugee camps in Jordan which does not grant any of their decendents who were born there city rights. Jewish people were dispelled from their homes and found a new home in Israel.

So, Israel as a state is the only guarantee in the world for safety and survival for the Jewish people. If you know any Jewish people in Europe, you will often hear their discussions and plans of going to Israel. The state exists, and it will continue to exist and thrive. To debate its right to an existence is politically pointless because it was granted by the UN and other leading political organisations, and antisemitic because it’s a direct call against the safety of Jews everywhere. Palestine wasn’t a state in the beginning at first and to this day has a special political status. In the 1940-1960s, a lot of Palestinians didn’t even want to be called Palestinians and the leading politicians in fact called for Palestine to be reunited with Syria, calling them Syrians. In 2005, Israel granted Gaza’s wishes and completely unrooted all Jewish life in the Gaza strip, making it free of living Jews for the first time in millenias. Unsurprisingly, peace did not follow.

Phew. I left out about a thousand details around here, so please use these points as a starting point for your research and take it with a grain of salt.

The conflict between Israel and Palestine to this day exists because Palestine does not acknowledge Israel’s right to exist and uses acts of terrorism and war against the state. Beginning of May, Gaza fired way over 600 rockets on Israel, aiming at schools and civilian buildings, killing 4 and injuring over 300 people. Their leading political organisation, Hamas, calls for the complete destruction of Israel and their people. They also refer to Israel as an oppressing state and an occupation of their territory.

One of the organisations that also believes Israel to be an occupator is the BDS organisation, which is a Boycott against Israel. It claims to be peaceful and harmless, but aims to completely isolate Israel in every way, culturally, economically, politically, from the rest of the world. They also want Palestinian refugees in Gaza and Westbank to have a right to return to Israel. However, given that Israel has a population of about 15 million people, and 20% of them are not Jewish, integrating about 8 million people of non-jewish Arabs into Israel would make Jews a minority in Israel and effectively end the existence of the only Jewish state in the world. (also good luck boycotting Israeli technology like the world's most efficient field hospital, the USB stick, and just about every smartphone works with Israeli technology.)

BDS called for a boycott of the ESC in Israel, Roger Waters himself foamed at the mouth when Madonna was announced to perform in Tel Aviv. One band that is at least close to the BDS is Hatari, the Icelandic group. They announced their intentions to use their performance to criticise Israel for the way they treat Palestinians.There was debate in Israel apparently whether they should be allowed to come to Tel Aviv, in the end they were allowed. They returned the favour by showing the flag of their biggest aggressor and threat to safety.

Funnily enough, homosexuality is punishable by imprisonment and death in Gaza. So I can’t help but wonder how well their support was received in Palestine… It’s a typically European knee-jerk reaction. They want to show solidarity with what they think is the underdog in that conflict, and they’re cowardly showing their protest in a democractic, safe country.

Madonna’s performance is problematic because she agreed to do a non-political act and proceeded to slap the flags on their dancers at the very last second, betraying the trust and rules of the hosts. Her act shows a big, scary man dressed like a soldier in a black uniform as Israel and a tiny woman in a white dress as Palestine, and in the beginning she talks about supposedly hidden crimes that ‘we all know of’ wink-wonk. It’s a tired provocatin and villainification of Israel imo. The reactions all over social media show that it was not actually perceived as a message of peace and love, but as a message of pro-Palestinian interests, painting them the victims and only the victims of the conflict.

There was probably more going on with political statements in the ESC, but you referred to Jewish history and Israel, so I hope your questions are covered with this response!

#marina replies #long post #i don't wanna tag this bc it will attract antisemites to my blog

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investmart007 · 6 years

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JERUSALEM | Eurovision says Tel Aviv will host 2019 song contest

New Post has been published on https://www.stl.news/jerusalem-eurovision-says-tel-aviv-will-host-2019-song-contest/169753/

JERUSALEM | Eurovision says Tel Aviv will host 2019 song contest

JERUSALEM — The Eurovision Song Contest announced Thursday that next year’s competition will be held in Tel Aviv, clearing up some of the political controversy surrounding Israel’s hosting of the 2019 competition.

The Israeli government had initially insisted on holding the popular event in Jerusalem. But following a backlash over the U.S.

recognition of Jerusalem as its capital and a subsequent fear of boycotts it dropped the demand to host the world’s largest live music event. The Eurovision said it chose Tel Aviv, Israel’s cultural and commercial epicenter, over Jerusalem and the southern city of Eilat because of its “creative and compelling bid.”

“Eurovision is a perfect fit for our city, which has been internationally acclaimed for its vibrant energy, creative spirit, its lively cultural scene and its celebration of freedom,” said Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai. “We are looking forward to host a joyful and nonstop event in the spirit of Tel Aviv.”

Israel won the Eurovision this year with a flashy pop tune called “Toy” by the charismatic, previously unknown singer Netta Barzilai, who dazzled viewers with her feminist lyrics, unconventional appearance and signature chicken dance. Her victory earned Israel the right to host next year’s contest.

In Europe, capital cities have usually played host. But the city Israel considers its capital is not recognized as such by most of the international community. Hosting the competition in Jerusalem could have presented a predicament for the public broadcasters that make up the European Broadcasting Union, sparking criticism that they would be taking sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The so-called BDS group — for Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions — has called for the Eurovision contest to be boycotted altogether if it is held in Israel.

Omar Barghouti, the organization’s co-founder, said Eurovision’s decision “dealt a severe blow” to Israel’s “illegal claim of sovereignty over the city,” and called for the Tel Aviv event to be boycotted “as there should be no business as usual with Israeli apartheid.”

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed the area in a move that is not internationally recognized.

Israel considers the entire city to be its capital, while the Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

Israel held the Eurovision contest in Jerusalem without incident following its previous victories, most recently in 1999. Israel’s outspoken culture and sports minister, Miri Regev, lobbied hard for Jerusalem again, saying Israel, and no one else, should decide where the event should take place. She recommended Israel not host the Eurovision at all if Jerusalem was not chosen.

But following the Argentine national football team’s snub of an exhibition game in the city earlier this year Israel backed off its insistence. Fearful of being accused of politicizing the feel-good event, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resolved that the government would not intervene.

Israel’s internal culture wars have also seeped into the Eurovision show, with an ultra-Orthodox member of Netanyahu’s coalition government urging the government to prevent the sabbath from being desecrated. The finale usually takes place on a Saturday night, shortly after the end of the sabbath, meaning that preparations for the show could violate the sacred day.

By choosing Tel Aviv, the Eurovision appears to have made a safer bet. The coastal city is a top international tourist draw, far more associated with its vibrant night life than its politics. It boasts Israel’s most rabid Eurovision fan base. Fans flooded Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square in front of City Hall, with some euphorically jumping into a public fountain, after Barzilai was announced the winner this year in Portugal. The City Hall building was lit up to spell “Toy” and electronic signs throughout the city congratulated her.

Tel Aviv, hosting the event for the first time, says it expects around 20,000 tourists to arrive and generate an estimated of NIS 100 million in direct revenues from the campy, gay-friendly spectacle.

The Eurovision says its semifinals will be held in Tel Aviv on May 14 and 16 followed by the Grand Final on May 18.

The Eurovision has previously provided Israel with some cultural touchstones.

“Hallelujah” became the country’s unofficial national song after it won the contest for Israel when it hosted the event in the late 1970s, and Dana International became a national hero and global transgender icon when she won with “Diva” in 1998.

By ARON HELLER, Associated Press

#Eurovision says #Eurovision Song #Israel hosting #jerusalem news #song contest #TEL AVIV #Thursday announced #TodayNews #will host

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eretzyisrael · 5 years

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The same double standard has been exhibited by the other signatories, several of whom have close links with Jeremy Corbyn. Why didn’t any of them object when the Eurovision Song Contest was hosted by Russia in 2009? It’s not as if Vladimir Putin’s record when it comes to respecting the rights of minorities is exemplary. And what about the human rights abuses that take place at the hands of the Hamas administration in Gaza, where homosexuality is still illegal? The reason Eurovision is being hosted in Tel Aviv is because it was won last year by the Israeli singer Netta Barzilai, an outspoken supporter of the country’s LGBT community. In the intersectional hierarchy of victimhood, the rights of LGBT people are usually ranked above those of refugees, yet not in Israel’s case. For some reason, Israel’s staunch protection of LGBT rights is always ignored by these ‘artists of conscience’.

It’s this inconsistency that undermines the credibility of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which is leading the anti-Eurovision campaign. Why is Israel held to a higher moral standard than every other country in the Middle East, including the terrorist-backing Iran? BDS activists compare Israel to apartheid South Africa but that’s just ridiculous. Racial discrimination is illegal in Israel and its non-Jewish Arab minority — about 20 per cent of the population — enjoys equal rights under the law. An Arab Israeli served on its Supreme Court, the ‘Joint List’ (an alliance of several Arab parties) is the third largest party in the Knesset, and there’s a thriving Arab media, which is often very critical of the Israeli government. In a poll in 2014, three-quarters of Arab Israelis said they’d prefer to live under Israeli rule than Palestinian. No doubt they feel the same way about neighbouring Jordan, where the Palestinian minority really are second-class citizens.

When trouble flares on the Gaza Strip, there is always a renewed call for BDS, but no one would be injured if Hamas fighters weren’t intent on breaking through the border fence. The fighters arm themselves with bombs, grenades and guns and hide among protestors, knowing that if a civilian is killed they can exploit it for propaganda purposes.

#ken loach #boycott #eurovision #tel aviv #hypocrisy #israel

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