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Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, which will take place on May 11th, is being protested in Malmo, Sweden, where the event is being hosted on May 9, 2024. [Atila Altuntaş – Anadolu Agency]
After Iceland joined Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, and Slovenia in withdrawing from Eurovision 2026, 17 Portuguese musicians competing in the national selection show Festival da Cancao said they would refuse to represent Portugal even if selected for the next year’s song contest, Anadolu reports.
The entrants in the internal contest to elect a representative issued a statement protesting Israel’s controversial participation in the contest, according to Euronews.
“With words and with songs, we act within the possibilities we are given. We do not accept complicity with the violation of Human Rights,” the statement said.
“Despite Russia’s ban from Eurovision 2022 for political reasons, we were surprised to see that the same stance was not taken towards Israel, which, according to the United Nations, is committing acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” it added.
In response, Portugal’s public broadcaster RTP said: “Regardless of the decision of the artists who subscribe to the statement, RTP will once again organise Festival da Canção and reaffirms its participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026.”
Salvador Sobral, Portugal’s only Eurovision winner, also criticized RTP’s position in a video shared on social media, accusing the broadcaster of “political cowardice.”
Public outrage has meanwhile spread across Portugal, leading to the launch of a petition calling for the country’s immediate withdrawal from Eurovision.
The petition, which has gathered more than 22,000 signatures, argues that RTP’s backing of Israel’s participation “puts Portugal on the wrong side of history.”
“This stance is unacceptable in the face of the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe and military offensive in the Gaza Strip, and in the face of the vote rigging scandals that marred the 2025 edition in Basel, proving the inability of the organisation (EBU) to curb the politicisation of the event,” the petition said.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Palestinians run for cover during an Israeli airstrike on a high-rise building in Gaza City, September 5, 2025
Britain’s involvement in the Gaza genocide condemned by Amnesty International
BRITAIN’S involvement in the Gaza genocide was condemned in a new report by Amnesty International UK, which today highlighted 15 companies profiting from and fuelling Israel’s mass atrocities.
The government is enabling mass atrocities through defence contracts, public-sector deals, supply chains and failures to comply with its legal obligations, said the NGO.
Amnesty released its 20-page report on the first anniversary of a UN general assembly resolution demanding that Israel end its unlawful occupation of the Palestinian territory within 12 months of its adoption.
The NGO’s secretary-general Agnes Callamard said: “Human dignity is not a commodity. While Palestinian mothers in Gaza are left to watch their children waste away from starvation under Israel’s genocide, arms companies and others continue to reap substantial profits.
“Israel’s prolonged unlawful occupation and decades of apartheid have required in-depth and sustained support to Israel through economic relations and trade.
“Amnesty calls on its members and supporters the world over to demand an immediate end to the political economy underpinning Israel’s international crimes.”
…
Famous names, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Florence Pugh, Damon Albarn and Paloma Faith, gathered for a sold-out charity concert raising funds for humanitarian efforts in Palestine at London’s Wembley Arena on Tuesday.
Normal People author Sally Rooney today confirmed that she has been unable to travel to Britain to accept a Sky Arts award for literature for her new book, as she can “no longer safely enter the UK without facing arrest” due to her expressed support for Palestine Action.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.Vote Labour for Genocide.
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Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes that hit and destroyed multiple buildings and high-rise towers in Gaza City, Gaza on September 14, 2025. [Ali Jadallah – Anadolu Agency]
Amnesty International UK on Tuesday urged the British government to prevent and punish Israel’s genocide in Gaza following a UN commission’s findings that Israel is committing genocide in the besieged enclave, Anadolu reports.
“We welcome the UN commission’s findings that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza – a significant and necessary moment,” Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International UK’s crisis response manager, said in a statement.
Saying that the government “must change” its position and take action without delay, he said all states – including the UK – bear a clear and binding legal obligation to act under the Genocide Convention.
“The Government must now stop indulging in genocide denial. It must urgently fulfil its legal and moral responsibility by taking immediate, decisive steps to prevent and punish genocide,” added Benedict.
Amnesty International also reiterated its call on the government to end all UK arms exports to Israel, support the International Criminal Court (ICC) and enforce its arrest warrants, implement International Court of Justice (ICJ) rulings in full, and ban all trade with Israeli settlements.
Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza has killed nearly 65,000 Palestinians since October 2023 and devastated the enclave, which faces famine.
A UN inquiry released on Tuesday found that Israel’s war on Gaza is a genocide.
“It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention,” said Navi Pillay, chair of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Israel is also facing a genocide case at the ICJ over its war in the territory.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Tanks and armored vehicles belonging to the Israeli army are seen mobilizing near the Gaza border, as Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip continue without pause, on September 15, 2025. [Tsafrir Abayov – Anadolu Agency]
Israel has killed more than 10 per cent of Gaza’s population since the start of the genocide in October 2023. The statistics, now reported by mainstream media as they come directly from an Israeli source – none other than former army commander Herzi Halevi who was chief of staff for the Israeli military for 17 months of Israel’s genocide – confirm the annihilation directly from the perpetrators.
There is no more talk about Hamas exaggerating the statistics, although the Guardian repeats the statement that is part of mainstream official narrative about Hamas not distinguishing between civilians and resistance fighters. The picture that emerges is that of mainstream media reporting admission of genocide from a source that is responsible and culpable, after spending almost two years of denying the Palestinian people the chance to articulate the same statement as lived experience.
“This isn’t a gentle war,” Halevi is reported saying. “We took the gloves off from the first minute. Sadly not earlier.” This rhetorical pondering of not having indulged in genocide earlier only illustrates the historical intent to eradicate all Palestinians from Palestine. This is also an admission of how Israel can secure its existence through the obliteration of the indigenous.
Halevi asserted that he was never restricted on how to carry out the genocide and stated that Israel’s military attorney general “had no power to restrict me.” However, Halevi also repeated the claim that the Israeli military “operates within the constraints of international law.”
According to a new UN report by the Independent Commission of Inquiry, Israel has committed four out of five acts of genocide as defined in the 1948 Geneva Convention.
Not one single international institution has taken genocide seriously. Gaza has been a major news focus, an area of research, an opportunity for rhetorical practice and futile debates, and a territory to test weapons and international parameters of human rights. That international institutions and world leaders are now catching up with what Palestinians have been saying since the start should read as an aberration of justice, not an upholding of it.
Even when quoting Israelis on genocide, the international community still finds space to debate the evidence instead of acting upon it. There have been other instances where Israeli officials clearly incited in favour of genocide and spoke openly of war crimes. Halevi’s comment, however, is statistical. Israel has killed over 10 per cent of Gaza’s population. What does that statistical data convey to the international community and what will be done about it?
The international community is not averse to statistics, but it certainly loathes interpreting them in ways that obliges action against Israel. The UN has published countless statistics on forced displacement, home demolitions, Palestinian prisoners, violence against Palestinian journalists, Palestinian minors in Israeli jails, depicting the severity of colonialism purely for embellishing the institution’s records. However, not one single statistical report has ever moved the UN to act against Israel. Maybe one should not even have that expectation because behind the veneer of human rights, the UN not only endorsed but also planned, Israel’s creation.
The international community is not helpless in the face of genocide; it is willing to see it through.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Palestinian children wait for food at a charity kitchen in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, on 22 July 2025 (AFP)
Official X account of Israel and some pro-Israeli social media users have launched a campaign denying there is hunger in Gaza
An Israeli campaign on social media this week is claiming there is no hunger in Gaza, while Palestinians have been documenting people dying from starvation due to the Israeli-imposed blockade on the strip.
The official X account of the State of Israel has shared numerous posts suggesting that images of starving and malnourished children being shown across the world are fabricated, claiming that the children are suffering from other illnesses, such as “cystic fibrosis”.
In recent weeks, many international organisations, as well as the Palestinian health ministry, have warned of looming famine in Gaza.
The United Nations has warned of “catastrophic hunger” in Gaza and said the entire population of over two million people is severely food insecure. “One out of every three people has not eaten for days, and 80 percent of all reported deaths by starvation are children,” the agency said.
While the death toll in Gaza is now over 60,000, at least 154 people have died due to malnutrition and starvation in the enclave, according to various news reports and international organisations.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Palestinians run for cover during an Israeli airstrike on a high-rise building in Gaza City, September 5, 2025
