Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

What is the anti-Israel Eurovision protest really about?

Pro-Palestinian protesters gather in Malmo, Sweden, to call for Israel to get the boot from the Eurovision Song Contest (Getty)

A young Israeli woman warned to stay in her hotel room. A baying mob on the streets outside hollering slogans and abuse. Death threats piling up. Bodyguards working round the clock to make sure no protester gets inside to where the woman has taken refuge from their fury. I’m sorry, is this a political protest or a Jew-hunt?

The most galling thing about the Malmo protests is the sight of Greta Thunberg

I am referring, of course, to the despicable scenes in Malmo in Sweden where the final of the Eurovision Song Contest takes place tomorrow. The woman is Eden Golan, a 20-year-old Israeli-Russian who is singing for Israel. The fuming thousands, an unholy blend of leftists, Islamists and greens, want her booted out. An expulsion, if you like.

Israel’s actions in Gaza make it morally unfit for Eurovision, the mob insists. ‘Glitter doesn’t hide genocide’, they say. ‘14,000 dead children’, their placards declare, as if Golan killed them all.

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