In a statement, the collective argues that Israel’s continued participation in Eurovision amounts to “pinkwashing” — the use of LGBTQIA+ rights rhetoric to project a progressive image while, it says, committing war crimes, colonial violence and ethnic cleansing. According to the Assembly, Eurovision has long been associated with LGBTQIA+ communities, making the contest a strategic platform for Israel to legitimize its actions internationally.
The collective contrasts the European Broadcasting Union’s rapid decision to ban Russia following its invasion of Ukraine with its refusal to exclude Israel, describing this discrepancy as racist. It argues that European empathy is selectively distributed, rendering Palestinian suffering invisible while recognizing other victims as fully human.
The statement refers to the humanitarian situation in Gaza, citing mass displacement, starvation, destruction of cultural life and the targeting of civilians. It claims that keeping Israel in Eurovision while these conditions persist constitutes participation in a genocidal order.
The Assembly also references a recent UN report titled “Genocide in Gaza: a collective crime,” which, it says, cites Israel’s participation in Eurovision as an example of how the country has been shielded from accountability. According to the collective, the EBU’s stance reinforces a long-standing alliance between European institutions and the mechanisms enabling the displacement of Palestinians.
The March 8 Assembly aligns itself with calls from the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which has urged national broadcasters to withdraw from Eurovision if Israel is not excluded. It notes that several broadcasters in Europe have previously stated their intention to withdraw under these conditions and that at least five broadcasters have already boycotted the contest, while a former Eurovision winner has returned their trophy in protest.
The collective argues that broadcasters continuing to participate are complicit in shielding Israel from responsibility and in the broader violence against Palestinians. It insists that, legally and morally, withdrawal from Eurovision is the minimum required response.
In its conclusion, the Assembly stresses that queer and trans liberation cannot be separated from the struggle against colonialism. It rejects the instrumentalization of LGBTQIA+ identities to justify state violence and affirms solidarity with queer Palestinians. The cultural boycott of Eurovision, it says, is a refusal to normalize mass violence and to celebrate diversity “on a stage built on Palestinian graves.”
Until Israel is excluded from Eurovision, the March 8 Assembly calls on national broadcasters to withdraw from the contest, participating artists to refuse to perform, local venues to cancel Eurovision-related events, and LGBTQIA+ organizations worldwide to join the boycott.
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