Iceland’s Eurovision legacy: Keep sending anti-Israel musical acts

Iceland is sending another anti-Israel group to Eurovision.

By World Israel News Staff

Maybe it’s jealousy that drives Iceland to send anti-Israel acts to the Eurovision song contest.

The island nation has participated in 32 competitions. It hasn’t won any. Israel has four wins to its name. In Eurovision terms, that makes Israel four times as awesome as Iceland, a fact that appears to send a chill down Iceland’s bones.

Whatever the case may be, the country north of 64 degrees latitude is sending another singing troupe known for its anti-Israel views.

Its 2020 representative is Daði Freyr Pétursson and his band Gagnamagnið.

The Jerusalem Post reports that Daði Freyr signed a 2019 petition “calling Iceland to withdraw from the competition in Tel Aviv as a protest ‘against the occupation.'”

“We can’t imagine taking part in the fun that is Eurovision with a clear conscience while the Israeli state and their army use such terrible violence against the Palestinian people,” Daði Freyr tweeted at the time on the band’s official Twitter page, the Post reports.

Last year, Iceland sent the punk band Hatari. They performed in Tel Aviv, where the contest was held as a result of Neta Barzilai’s win in 2018.

Against the rules they unfurled Palestinian banners after their performance. The European Broadcasting Union fined them for the act as political displays are forbidden.

The official DVD of the 2019 event cut out their political protest.

Iceland’s selection was held on Saturday for the 2020 event. Hatari performed and true to form hosted an eastern Jerusalem Arab resident, demonstrating that anti-Israelism is central to their identity.

The 2020 Eurovision contest will be held in Amsterdam starting on May 12. It will run for several days.