KNEECAP AND THE Mary Wallopers are among more than 1,000 musicians who have signed an open letter calling for a complete boycott of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

The letter, which is part of the No Music For Genocide campaign, says Israel’s participation in the competition will “whitewash and normalise Israel’s genocide, siege and brutal military occupation against Palestinians”.

It says that the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) decision to allow Israel to participate “removed any illusion of Eurovision’s claimed ‘neutrality’”.

In 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EBU excluded Russia from Eurovision, arguing that it would bring the competition into “disrepute”.

The signatories of the letter released today say Israel should be treated the same.

“Just as artists stood against oppression in South Africa, we stand together now,” they said.

The Irish contingent already decided that it will not put forward an act, and the competition will not be broadcast on RTÉ.

Spain, the Netherlands, Iceland and Slovenia have also withdrawn from the contest.

The artists are calling for other public broadcasters, performers, crew, fans and any event organisers who had planned screenings to rethink their support for the competition.

Alongside Irish groups Kneecap and The Mary Wallopers, big names including Macklemore, Primal Scream, Paloma Faith and Paul Weller signed.

The Mary Wallopers' microphones were at Victorious Festival, Portsmouth last year when they flew the Palestine flag and chanted Free Palestine Alamy Alamy

However, some celebrities are urging countries not to back out of the competition, arguing that Eurovision should be a “unifying” event.

The boycott is an attempt to “ostracise Israelis”, according to signatories of the separate letter released last week, which include Boy George, Helen Mirren, Amy Schumer, Mila Kunis, Jerry O’Connell, Scooter Braun, Mayim Bialik, and Sharon Osbourne.

Osbourne said: “Artists and culture are being dragged into the angry, misinformed politics of the moment.

“Attempts to exclude Israelis from the international stage twist art into a tool of division and erode the shared humanity that the arts are meant to preserve,” she said.

The No Music For Genocide campaign previously called for artists to block their music from being streamed in Israel.