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BBC Blasted for Choosing Anti-Israel Eurovision Contestant as Competition Rejects Calls to Boycott Jewish State
Olly Alexander in the music video for “Sweet Talker.” Photo: YouTube screenshot
The singer chosen by the BBC to represent the United Kingdom in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest has supported claims that Israel is committing genocide, ethnic cleansing, and “crimes against humanity.”
The BBC announced on Dec. 16 that pop singer Olly Alexander, 33, will compete on behalf of the UK at the international music competition, which will be held in Malmö, Sweden in May. The former frontman of the band Years and Years has also been nominated as an actor by the British Academy Film Awards.
In October, Alexander joined thousands in signing an open letter, penned by the LGBTQ activist group Voices4London, that accused Israel of perpetrating a genocide in and occupation of the Gaza Strip, as well as the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians. It further claimed that Israel is committing “unspeakable crimes against humanity” and has an “apartheid regime, which acts to ethnically cleanse the land” while “the Israeli military and Israeli settlers have continued to terrorize Palestinian people.” The letter also alleged that the “Israeli government continues to wipe out entire lineages of Palestinian families” and talked about “Zionist propaganda.”
The Israeli Embassy in the UK criticized the BBC for selecting Alexander for the Eurovision Song Contest after it was revealed that he signed the open letter.
“Clearly [Alexander] graduated from the Middle Eastern School of TikTok,” the embassy tweeted on Thursday. “We would be happy to arrange a trip for you to visit the #October7thMassacre sites in Israel, where the rights of LGBTQ+ are celebrated, protected, and cherished. Unfortunately, our neighbors can’t guarantee the same.” The message was reposted by Israel’s official X/Twitter account.
Campaign Against Antisemitism, a volunteer-based Jewish charity in the UK, also commented on the BBC’s pick on social media, posting, “When nearly seven in ten British Jews feel afraid to express their identity in public, [Alexander] must not be the person to represent our country.”
The BBC has been urged to drop Alexander as the UK’s act in the Eurovision Song Contest, but the public broadcaster has no plans to take any action against the singer since he signed the anti-Israel letter before he was chosen to represent Britain, according to The Telegraph.
The recent controversy surrounding next year’s Eurovision contest comes amid calls from musicians in Iceland to have Israel banned from the competition because of its ongoing war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza. However, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the contest, released a statement rejecting the demand to boycott Israel and reaffirmed the country’s participation in the competition.
Israel has yet to announce its representative for next year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The Jewish state has been competing in the international competition since 1973 and has won four times, most recently in 2018 with Netta Barzilai’s song Toy. This year’s representative from Israel, Noa Kirel, came in third place during the contest in Liverpool.
The post BBC Blasted for Choosing Anti-Israel Eurovision Contestant as Competition Rejects Calls to Boycott Jewish State first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.