The Israeli broadcaster of the Eurovision said Iceland could be punished for holding up Palestinian flags during live coverage of the competition’s voting results.
Members of the Hatari group held up Palestinian flags with ‘Palestine’ written on them as the cameras were fixed on them during the announcement of their public votes at the final on Saturday night.
#Zionists are demanding that #Iceland be punished because #Hatari raised the #Palestinian flag at #Eurovision2019 in #TelAviv to protest #ApartheidIsrael's illegal occupation of #Palestine; kudos to Hatari; #BoycottIsrael & support #BDS to #FreePalestine~!https://t.co/bZOs2SvBXv
— Pauline Park (@paulinepark) May 19, 2019
The protest generated boos and cheers from the crowd at the Tel Aviv event, and support online.
Security quickly confiscated the flags from the band who were sitting in the green room at the time.
The EBU added:
“The banners were quickly removed and the consequences of this action will be discussed by the Reference Group [the event’s executive board] after the contest.”
Hatari members were outspoken about their support for Palestinians before the international event and said they were “conflicted” about taking part. They visited Hebron (Al-Khalil) in the West Bank during the contest and told a Eurovision fan blog that the “apartheid” and “segregation was so clear” there.
(RT, PC, Social Media)
