Israel’s Intelligence Chief travels to Sweden for fear of attacks on his singer at Eurovision 2024

Politics reaches again Eurovision Song Contest and again from the hand of Israel. The Jewish State would have sent its Intelligence chief to Malmö due to the fear of possible attacks on the population and Israeli delegation who is in the city due to the celebration of the festival and, specifically, towards its representative, Eden Golanwhose movements are practically armored against any type of threat.

In fact, the Israeli singer arrived in Malmö last week accompanied by a strong security presence and He has been absent from practically all events related to Eurovision before the final. So much so that on May 5, Eden Golan was not at the opening ceremony and, instead, paid tribute to the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaustcoinciding with Holocaust Remembrance Day that Israel celebrates annually on that day.

He last Thursday May 2, Israel’s National Security Council issued an alert advising Israeli citizens to reconsider the need to travel. The Netanyahu government is aware of the growing international unpopularity of his actions in the Gaza war, where its troops have caused the death of more than 34,700 Palestinians since October.

That is why last week, a delegation led by Ronen Barleader of the Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security service, moved to Malmö to monitor possible threats, according to Israeli media reports published this Tuesday. Ronen Bar has traveled to Sweden to coordinate the security of participants from Israel due to fear of attacks, since this year the attempted boycott of Israel in Eurovision, something that was achieved with Russia for invading Ukraine.

Malmö, a city surrounded by politics

Due to the EBU’s refusal to expel Israel from Eurovision Following the criticism received for their actions following the Hamas attacks last October, the protests against the organization of the festival have been increasing. Despite Israel’s politicization of the festival, the EBU has decided not to take action and allow the country’s participation in 2024.

This decision has triggered the organization of several demonstrations in Malmö in favor of the Palestinian people, with the purpose of point out the lack of morals of the festival organization and its hypocrisy. The Asociation Stop Israel, for peace and a free Palestinewhich represents numerous organizations, has called for two large demonstrations in the center of Malmö for this Thursday, coinciding with Israel’s participation in the second semi-final, and on Saturday, the day of the final.

Faced with this tense situation, the city of Malmö has been strengthened with extensive police deployment, with reinforcements coming from other parts of Sweden, Denmark and Norway. In addition, access rules to areas such as the Eurovillage or the stadium itself where the festival is held have been tightened, prohibiting the entry of any type of bag. This measure not only responds to security reasons, but also to prevent Palestinian flags from being flown during the galas, thus limiting freedom of expression.

Israel, media focus outside of music

The EBU finally decided to admit the song “Hurricane” of Israel after slight changes that eliminated direct references to the Hamas attack on the Israeli population in October 2023. However, Israel’s participation in the festival may call into question the safety of attendees and delegations who travel to Malmö to enjoy the largest musical event in the world.

In addition to this security problem, Israeli public television has on several occasions violated the main values ​​that the EBU defend. Firstly, the hate speech explained above about the host city, violating the values ​​of excellence, impartiality and responsibility, by using images of Muslim women with headscarves and labeling them as “anti-Semitic”, even though Judaism is not mentioned in their posters and delete them after the controversy without giving any explanation