(JTA) — Britain’s chief rabbi defended Israel’s right to host the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in response to an open letter by British public figures demanding that the event be moved.
Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis told The Daily Mail, in an interview published on Sunday, “Calls for the Eurovision Song Contest to be moved from Israel will ultimately harm, and not help, the cause of peace." Referring to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, he added, "I call upon those advocating for BDS to turn their efforts towards collaboration and reconciliation.”