Finnish musicians call for Eurovision boycott protesting Israeli joining

Several hundreds of musicians and music industry professionals on Monday reiterated their call for boycotting the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) protesting against the participation of Israel in the contest.

A total of 1,500 people in the music industry in an open letter sent to the national broadcaster Yle urged the Finnish people to boycott the event scheduled to begin in Malmö, Sweden this week, reported Yle.

Yle is a partner of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organiser of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Earlier in January, about 1,400 musicians in an open letter demanded that Yle should create pressure on the EBU to ban Israel from Eurovision this year or to boycott the competition straightway.

On January 11, Finnish rapper Jesse Markin, one of the seven singers, who was vying to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest announced to boycott the contest, if Israel is allowed to participate.