GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — As pro-Palestinian advocates stepped up their requests for a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 scheduled to take place in Israel, Palestinian Minister of Culture Ehab Bseiso called on all cultural promoters in Europe and elsewhere to use culture as “a tool for justice, not oppression.”
Speaking at a press conference in Ramallah Sept. 17, Bseiso accused Israel of regularly violating Palestinian rights in the occupied territories, particularly for artists, by either restricting their movement, arresting them for their works of art and closing cultural institutions.