Peter Gabriel: Move Eurovision From Israel (Jan. 30, 2019)

Move Eurovision From Israel, Peter Gabriel and Leading U.K. Artists Urge BBC

Signatories to letter say venue must change because of 'Israel's systematic violation of Palestinian human rights'; BBC rejects call

• BDS protesters storm stage at Netta Barzilai pre-Eurovision performance in France

• Israel’s ‘1984’ moment in the war against BDS

• Eurovision chief defends next year's contest in Israel: 'We don’t want to be used politically in any way'

Some 50 British cultural figures, including musician Peter Gabriel and actress Julie Christie, signed a letter published on Tuesday in the Guardian calling on the BBC to push for the locale of this year's Eurovision song contest to be changed because of "Israel's systematic violation of Palestinian human rights."

The BBC rejected the call, saying it was 'inappropriate to use the BBC’s participation for political reasons.’

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"The European Broadcasting Union chose Tel Aviv as the venue over occupied Jerusalem – but this does nothing to protect Palestinians from land theft, evictions, shootings, beatings and more by Israel’s security forces," read the letter.  

"The BBC is bound by its charter to 'champion freedom of expression,'" the figures said. "It should act on its principles and press for Eurovision to be relocated to a country where crimes against that freedom are not being committed."

Also among the dozens of signatories were filmmakers Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, and musician Roger Waters.

Earlier this month, protesters in France stormed the stage after a performance by Netta Barzilai, who won the song contest in 2018, carrying a sign saying "Non a l’Eurovision 2019 en Israel!" (No to Eurovision 2019 in Israel).

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The song contest is scheduled to take place in Tel Aviv this May.

Full list of signatories:

Peter Ahrends, architect
Amir Amirani, filmmaker
Jonathan Arndell, architect, artist
Roy Battersby, director
Bloody Knees, band
brave timbers, band
Jen Brister, comedian
Carmen Callil, publisher, writer
Taghrid Choucair-Vizoso, performer
Julie Christie, actor
Ian Christie, film historian, broadcaster
Chipo Chung, actor
Caryl Churchill, playwright
Michael Darlow, tv writer and director
Paula Darwish, musician
April De Angelis, playwright
Tam Dean Burn, actor
Drones Club, band
Nancy Elan, violin
Gareth Evans, producer, curator
Peter Gabriel, musician, founder WOMAD festival
Lots Holloway, singer, songwriter
Rachel Holmes, writer
Brigid Keenan, author
Patrick Keiller, artist, filmmaker
Reem Kelani, musician, broadcaster
AL Kennedy, writer
Desmond Lambert, musician
Mike Leigh, writer, director
Ken Loach, director
Sabrina Mahfouz, writer
Miriam Margolyes, actor
Yann Martel, writer
Declan McKenna, singer, songwriter
JD Meatyard, musician
Pauline Melville, writer
Giuliano Modarelli, musician, composer
Object Blue, DJ
Maxine Peake, actor
Jocelyn Pook, composer
TJ Rehmi, composer, producer
Reverend & the Makers, band
Leon Rosselson, songwriter
Rrose, DJ
Alexei Sayle, comedian, author
David Scott, music producer
Nick Seymour, musician
Sarah Streatfeild, violin
Roger Waters, musician
Vivienne Westwood, fashion designer
Wolf Alice, band

Haaretz

I counsel DPF against using ZzzzzB numbskulls like Andrew Dickens (Jan. 31, 2019)

• Morrissey

  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

  Another NewstalkZzzzzzzB chatterer? Okay, he’s several I.Q. points above your usual ZzzzzzzB go-to halfwit, Mike Hosking, but really and truly.

  credibility n. the quality of being trusted and believed in, the quality of being convincing or believable. “The website’s already tenuous credibility was stretched to breaking point by its headlining of a stream of addle-pated and plain stupid talk radio hosts.”

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  • JANUARY 31, 2019 7:44AM

  • Mobile Michael

    Can’t refute the argument, so attack the arguer. The classic political tactic of the desperate.

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    • JANUARY 31, 2019 7:47AM

    • Morrissey

      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

      I have extensively and carefully refuted the horror show that is NewstalkZzzzzzzB. Here’s a few to get you started.

      https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/former-newstalkzb-opinionator-chris.html

      https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/01/newstalk-zb-chief-we-acknowledge-paul.html

      https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/01/newstalk-zb-continues-to-be-outlet-for.html

      https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2017/12/not-everybody-appreciates-charm-and.html

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      • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:01AM

      • harvey wilson

        Didn’t read any of those links , never will . Find it hilarious you’re so obsessed with people you loathe though .

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        • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:03AM

        • Swifty

          He thinks others are interested in his ravings.

          Delusional behaviour 101.

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          • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:14AM

        • Morrissey

          Don’t believe that for a second, harv.

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          • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:35AM

  • Swifty

    Thanks Morrissey – you’ve quite perfectly summed up your own blog.

    Your own very boring blog.

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    • JANUARY 31, 2019 7:48AM

    • Morrissey

      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

      You can push that “boring” slur as much as you like, Swifty, but there’s nothing behind it. My critiques of NewstalkZzzzzzzB, on the other hand, are detailed and rigorous—as even my detractors and enemies recognize. You won’t, of course, but that’s your problem.

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      • JANUARY 31, 2019 7:55AM

      • harvey wilson

        Morrisey can’t debate the facts , goes full shrilltard on the messenger.

        Inadvertently proves the point.

        33 houses built out of 1000, even by the low expectations I have of this govt that is beyond pathetic.

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        • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:02AM

      • kevn

        @morris minor…. yawn. You are like a one trick pony. Boring indeed.

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        • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:02AM

        • harvey wilson

          Wait, he has a trick?

          Oh yeah, that’s right there’s the whole calling rape victims liars thing. As you were.

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          • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:05AM

        • Morrissey

          Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

          That’s nothing but a baseless slur, kev. I put up my body of work—it’s extensive and detailed and acclaimed by all sorts of people, all cleverer than you—against anything said or written by such empty vessels as Mike Hosking or Pam Corkery’s hapless assistant Andrew Dickens.

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          • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:06AM

        • harvey wilson

          “ body of work” Hahahaha Hahahaha.

          You mean waste of your life?

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          • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:10AM

        • Morrissey

          Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

          Lying doesn’t even work for powerful shitheads like Trump and Blair, Harv. It’s even less effective for you.

          This is a forum dominated by people who lionize, champion, and revere Donald Trump—a notorious abuser of women, and a rapist of his own wife. Your contention that I have ever called any rape victims “liars” is simply a lie. And you know it.

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          • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:11AM

        • Morrissey

          “Waste of life”? Well, that’s one way of putting it Harv.

          But when most people use that phrase, I think they mean something like THIS…..
          http://www.recipeapart.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/55ffd0ef0f2a4f2f0375.jpeg

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          • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:33AM

      • pentwig

        morry chez ami
        if your blog is so good and not boring, how come you have so much time to spend on KB rather than parlez with your own commenters.
        what are your blog statistics?

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        • JANUARY 31, 2019 12:03PM

    • Swifty

      You are deluded.

      Your logic is faulty too, and not for the first time; I am a detractor (wouldn’t say enemy) and I find your writing lazy, full of unsubstantiated assertions, repetitive, poorly constructed and, because 99% of the time it is just slagging people off and calling them halfwits, it is just so incredibly boring.

      Not once have I read anything of yours which has given me food for thought, uplifted me, or caused me to challenge my belief that you are a bitter, twisted failure that gets his kicks from slurring others.

      I also strongly suspect that I am not alone in this view – as the upticks to this post from me will attest.

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      • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:10AM

      • harvey wilson

        Morrisey you said that the women weren’t raped by Assange. That means you think they lied . You can try and wriggle out of that if you want but you don’t have a leg to stand on.

        You seem a bit flustered , go and listen to a talkback host you can’t stand for a couple of hours to unwind. Or better still post this thread on your blog no one reads.

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        • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:16AM

        • Morrissey

          Harvey, I’ve gone over this with you several times now. You’re simply pretending to not understand. The fact is: the two young women were inveigled and harassed by an equally harassed Swedish prosecutor to acquiesce in the formulation of those notoriously fantastic allegations against Assange. In spite of the great pressure to go along with the lie, they both soon made it clear that the charges were false. There is not a skerrick of evidence to support the fabulous charges concocted by the British and U.S. intelligence operatives.

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          • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:22AM

      • Morrissey

        You like to dish out the abuse. It’s a pity you can’t substantiate it with an example.

        The bit about my writing being “repetitive, poorly constructed” is patently wrong. The rest of it is just opinion. Some people say going to the library is boring. Some people say watching a black and white movie is boring. Not much you can do to argue against people who make their mind up.

        It does seem a little odd that you’re professing to be upset by my “slurring others”—and that’s a fair observation—on a blog replete with the most obscene slurring and denunciation of all manner of people, from Jacinda Ardern to scientists and human rights activists.

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        • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:17AM

        • harvey wilson

          Morrisey he’s right. Accept it.

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          • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:18AM

      • harvey wilson

        Swifty, bang on .

        You put that far more civilly than I ever could .

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        • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:17AM

        • Morrissey

          Harv, you think that Swifty being mean is going to dent my self-esteem?

          If there were some rigor and analysis in his non-critique, then it might carry some weight and do some damage. Unfortunately for him, and for you, and for Keeping Stock, what he’s written is either dull and unsubstantiated abuse or simply wrong. It carries as much weight as Kate Hawkesby’s berating of Labour MPs’ choice of clothing.

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          • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:29AM

      • Garbageman

        Ouch Swifty & only one uptick to give

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        • JANUARY 31, 2019 12:19PM

  • Keeping Stock

    You’re a fine one to lecture about credibility Morrissey; just sayin’…

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    • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:21AM

    • Morrissey

      MEMO: Keeping Stock

      “Just sayin'” is the signature of the stupid.

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      • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:24AM

      • harvey wilson

        Morrisey I doubt anyone could pull you out of the morass you are in , spending your days on blogs and listening to talkback and posting your outrage that anyone could dare think differently to you

        I’ve also posted statements from the women who accused Assange of rape which we both know you’ll never ever read. Not only did they say they were raped but they were hounded by Assange fanboys like you and had to go into hiding.
        You must be so proud.

        You and the other people that defend him are going to look like Polanskis defenders do now .

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        • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:38AM

        • Morrissey

          Your continuing defiant lying doesn’t change the fact that the young women being manipulated by the U.S. and U.K. governments soon refused to go along with the malignant fantasy.

          You are emotionally committed to the lie, but that doesn’t confer the slightest bit of legitimacy or credibility to it.

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          • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:51AM

        • harvey wilson

          Morrisey post me some credible evidence that what you say is true .

          Credible evidence Morrisey . Your word on the topic is worthless, post a trustworthy source that proves that they were manipulated by the Uk and US .

          You are no different to Polanski apologists like Weinstein. That worked out well for him .

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          • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:55AM

        • harvey wilson

          Not exactly in a hurry to post credible proof are you Morrisey? Please don’t pretend you are busy , your blog provides ample evidence you have little or no life outside of the confines of cyberspace.

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          • JANUARY 31, 2019 9:15AM

        • harvey wilson

          It’s been over an hour and nothing to backup his outrageous defence of the alleged rapes.

          At the risk of emulating Morrisey Weinbreen I’ll bookmark this thread to remind him of how he turned to water when given the opportunity to defend his hero .

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          • JANUARY 31, 2019 10:07AM

        • harvey wilson

          Morrisey ? You were accusing me of being emotionally committed to the lie and yet I have proof you believe a lie and you …….?

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          • JANUARY 31, 2019 10:33AM

• slightlyrighty

  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/96633168/stacey-kirk-move-over-john-key-jacinda-ardern-is-the-new-smiling-assassin

  HA! HA! HA!

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  • JANUARY 31, 2019 7:47AM

  • kevn

    @sr… Bit hard sorting fresh (impossible task) cabinet/ministers. No prob, just postpone.

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    • JANUARY 31, 2019 8:04AM