Iraq supports Palestinian calls for a boycott of Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Jerusalem, as Israel is undermining Middle Eastern settlement by hosting the event in the disputed city, Iraqi Ambassador to Russia Haidar Hadi told Sputnik on Friday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st August, 2018) Iraq supports Palestinian calls for a boycott of Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Jerusalem, as Israel is undermining middle Eastern settlement by hosting the event in the disputed city, Iraqi Ambassador to Russia Haidar Hadi told Sputnik on Friday.
Earlier in the day, Hadi met with the Palestinian Ambassador to Russia Abdel Hafiz Nofal. The diplomats discussed bilateral relations as well as the possible boycott of Eurovision.
"Iraq and Palestine are against holding this contest in Jerusalem because its status is one of the main obstacles for the settlement of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Holding the 2019 Eurovision in Jerusalem is an unofficial recognition of this city as the capital of Israel," the ambassador said.
The Iraqi ambassador believes that Israel tries to use the contest for achieving its political goals and recommends that the international community should condemn the Israeli attempt to politicize the event.
Hadi added that he had already called on Russia to join the boycott of the song contest.
On May 12, the Israeli contestant on Eurovision, Netta Barzilai, won the competition. However, the initiative of Israeli politicians to hold Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Jerusalem was met with opposition in several countries, including Iceland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, where political forces and the general public had called for a boycott.
Israel seized then Jordan-controlled East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1980, the Israeli parliament adopted the Jerusalem Law proclaiming the entire city Israel's undivided capital. Most countries of the international community does not recognize the annexation and believes the status of Jerusalem should be agreed with the Palestinians, who claim its eastern part as the capital of their future state.
