ISRAEL is putting pressure on the BBC to drop singer Olly Alexander as the UK’s Eurovision Song Contest entrant after he signed a letter describing Israel as an “apartheid regime”.
The Years & Years performer, 33, put his name to a letter written by an LGBT+ action group in October which described Israel’s actions in Gaza since the beginning of the conflict as “a genocide”.
It comes after Hamas officials said that more than 20,000 Palestinians have now been killed in the ongoing war.
Alexander (below) was unveiled as the choice to represent the UK at Eurovision during the Strictly Come Dancing final on Saturday evening.
Orly Goldschmidt, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in London, said the BBC’s decision to choose Alexander is a “major cause for concern”.
He told The Times: “Yet again, the BBC has fallen well short of its moral responsibility to adhere to the standard of due impartiality.
“Particularly at this time, the decision of the BBC to send an entrant to Eurovision who espouses such partial views of Israel and promotes such dehumanising language of Israelis is a major cause for concern.”
Meanwhile, in a post on Twitter/X, the embassy took aim at Alexander with a post that said: “Clearly @alexander_olly graduated from the Middle Eastern School of TikTok.
“We would be happy to arrange a trip for you to visit the #October7thMassacre sites in Israel, where the rights of the LGBT+ are celebrated, protected and cherished.
“Unfortunately, our neighbours can’t guarantee the same.”
The letter was organised by the campaign group Voices4 London and signed by around 1400 people.
It argued that Israel was responsible for a “violent history of occupation”.
“Death overflows from our phone screens and into our hearts,” it said.
“As a queer community, we cannot sit idly by while the Israeli government continues to wipe out entire lineages of Palestinian families.
“Current events simply are an escalation of the state of Israel’s apartheid regime, which acts to ethnically cleanse the land.”
The Daily Telegraph has reported that the BBC does not plan to drop Alexander despite the criticism.
The National has approached both the BBC and a representative for Alexander for a response.
