Nooshi Dadgostar, who first spoke to The evening paper about the party’s stance, believes that an Israeli participation in the music competition should be stopped because of the situation in the Gaza Strip.
– This is not about doing politics. It’s about not giving normality to the situation we see, says the V leader to SVT Nyheter.
Compare with Russia: “Investigated for war crimes”
It is the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that decides which countries are allowed to participate in the competition. In 2022, they excluded Russia, after protests from SVT together with other television companies.
– There are big differences between Russia and Israel in how the conflict looks and what kind of countries they are, says Dadgostar and continues:
– What they have in common is that they are both being investigated for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
South Africa believes that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and has reported the country to the International Court of Justice. The trial is currently underway.
– We can see every day that the situation in the Gaza Strip is terrible. To have a stage for such a state in the midst of the frenzy of joy, music, community and entertainment – it is not dignified, and not appropriate, says Dadgostar.
Do you have support among the other parliamentary parties?
– Yes, but I hope so.
The moderates: “Cheap domestic political points”
Mattias Karlsson, group leader for the Moderates, believes that Dadgostar’s actions are about “scoring cheap domestic political points and satisfying internal critics”:
“Nooshi Dadgostar has repeatedly been criticized in very harsh terms in his own ranks. I guess she gets nervous when the members call her a coward and demand her resignation. This play is an attempt to appease forces that she shouldn’t deal with – at least not if she wants to be a decent politician,” he writes to SVT.
The Green Party writes in a response that the party “has not taken a position”. The Social Democrats decline to comment.