How Palestinian cause and Israel’s Gaza war came to define Eurovision

Malmo, Sweden - This year's Eurovision song contest took place amid fiery protests, several planned Quran-burnings and with police on extremely high alert – splitting Sweden's third-largest city into two camps.

The reminders of Israel’s war on Gaza could be seen everywhere in Malmo, the coastal city that hosted the event.

The contrast in the mood and event’s surroundings was striking: while visitors in sparkling attire danced through the streets, snipers lined the rooftops. While a DJ in a yellow wig played old ABBA songs to a cheering crowd, protestors in keffiyehs gathered ten metres behind them, waving Palestinian flags and calling for a ceasefire.

The yearly kitsch-extravaganza has been overshadowed by the war on Gaza.

For months, global calls for boycott and protests have echoed against Israel's participation in the contest, which the organiser European Broadcasting Union [EBU] say is apolitical.

And what is considered a dazzling fiesta by the fans, has been a security-nightmare for authorities since Sweden ramped up its terrorism threat level to a 4 out of 5, following the Quran burnings that put the country in a controversial spotlight last summer.

With tens of thousands of people visiting from 37 participating countries, police were forced to take emergency security measures, including placing snipers on rooftops and bringing in backup forces from neighbouring Norway and Denmark. The five-day security operation was considered the largest in Malmo’s history.

Although the competition took place in the southern part of town, it was a “Folkets Park” [The people’s park] that grabbed the attention of the fans, and became the arena for the politically charged atmosphere.

The local playground was transformed into ‘Eurovision Village’ – a sealed festival area during the event, where visitors were not allowed to bring their bags for safety reasons. While the park remained open to the public, offering free concerts and events, the organisers struggled with an entertainment schedule that kept collapsing due to withdrawals ahead of the premiere.

Over 20 local artists and organisations withdrew their participation from the festivities surrounding the Eurovision week in protest against the presence of the Israeli contestant.

The municipality’s inhouse project manager Karin Karlsson called the cancellations “unfortunate” and also stated that the city “shouldn’t have to be responsible for the entire middle-east conflict.”

However, the Malmo residents disagreed.

While guests in sequin dresses stopped for photos in front of a marching streetband inside the park, 22-year-old Nathalie walked past wearing a keffiyeh and holding a Palestinian flag in protest,

“This is all so crazy, our city has become completely militarised”, she said while directing her gaze at a helicopter hovering over the area.

Both Nathalie and a friend who was with her were vocal about their stance: Israel should not have been allowed to participate in Eurovision amid Tel Aviv’s war on Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, most of them civilians.

“We don’t want to let people forget what is happening in Gaza. We’re here to remind everyone that Palestine is still being bombed,” Nathalie said.

Their tranquil protest inside the park was merely one event out of a dozen. During the five days when the music-bonanza took over the city, activists and organisations vowed to flood Malmo in pro-Palestinian symbolism and alternative events.

Among them, a ‘genocide-free’ music festival, Falastinvision, was also organised.

Double standards

Thursday and Saturday each saw roughly 10,000 protesters who marched through the inner city to the sound of drums, while chanting “Gaza! Gaza!” on repeat and calling for a boycott of Israel.

As demonstrators flooded the city in a sea of red, black, white and green, posters and graffiti calling for a ceasefire propped up on almost every street corner along the broad boulevards and Malmo’s sleepy residential areas, some of them welcoming visitors to “the genocide contest.”

“It’s a double standard, there is nothing non-political about letting Israel stay in the contest,” Alex Fuentes, 71, told TRT World as he was heading to participate in the Thursday march.

In 2022, Russia was banned from Eurovision, only a day after Moscow troops launched an attack on Ukraine, Fuentes pointed out.

Having seen the drastic security measures his hometown had been forced to take in order to host the event, he felt disappointed that the citizens were not given more of a say in the matter.

“It's such a waste of money, the residents don’t even want it. It’s a spectacle,” he said.

Standing next to him, holding a playcard that read, “Don’t let them get away with genocide”, 32-year-old Linus Bohman nodded in agreement.

“I have a lot of friends that have decided to skip the pro-Palestinian demonstrations too. They’re scared that it will get violent with this many police officers present here. The security around this is making people nervous,” Bohman said.

While both protests remained peaceful, a large crowd later moved to the Eurovision concert venue south of the city centre a few hours before the Saturday finale – shouting “shame on you” at fans entering the arena.

Several times, police clashed with protestors – dousing them with pepper spray and dragging them by their feet across the ground. Climate-activist Greta Thunberg who was calling for an Israeli boycott was among those detained by the police.

At the same time, the controversial contestant, Israel’s Eden Golan took the stage for the last time at Malmo Arena, performing with an imminent risk of disruption. During her appearance in the semi-finals two days earlier, Malmo-residents made sure to let her know that she was not welcome. Her singing was booed and drowned out by protesters inside the arena with the shouts of"Free Palestine".

At an earlier stage, Golan’s song was called "October Rain", an obvious reference to the Hamas attack on October 7th - something the EBU deemed too political. While the name of the song was altered ahead of the contest, its lyrics have pretty much remained the same.

While calls for a boycott have been loud, there have been Eurovision fans unwilling to compromise their love of pop ballads and sparkly costumes. Catching the attention of other fans, 29-year-old Julius, wearing a sparkly dress said that he didn’t want to miss out on the contest because it’s a yearly tradition.

“I think it’s a good thing that the demonstrations are happening, and Israel shouldn’t be allowed to participate – but we still wanted to come. Eurovision is music and music is love,” he told TRT World.

Just outside the ‘Eurovision village’, a spontaneous graffiti wall has been set up. Artists and locals have filled the area with large murals depicting watermelons, the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and messages such as "Netanyahu: 0 points". Even the roundabout nearby has been renamed "Gazarondellen" [The Gaza roundabout].

“Malmo has a long history of solidarity with Palestine”, one resident who wanted to remain anonymous said, referring to the fact that every third person on the street was wearing a black and white keffiyeh.

Since the southern city hosts one of the biggest Arab communities in Sweden, mostly from Iraq and Syria, it was no surprise that its residents would sympathise with Gaza rather than Israel, she added.

As the contest came to an end Saturday night, giving Switzerland the trophy for the first time since 1988, residents and activists have drawn a sigh of relief over the fact that Israel didn’t take home the prize.