Gaza war
Israel tightens travel warning for Malmö ahead of ESC
Eden Golan is competing for Israel at the ESC in Malmö. photo
© Ran Yehezkel/ESC/EBU/dpa
The ESC starts in Malmö on May 7th. Are Israeli fans safe in Sweden? Israel’s National Security Council speaks of a “medium threat”.
The statement stated that Malmö had a “high concentration of Syrian, Lebanese, Iraqi and Iranian migrants” and was known as a hotspot for anti-Israel protests. These occurred weekly and often involved calls for violence against Jews and Israelis as well as the burning of Israeli flags, it said.
After the massacre by Hamas and other extremist organizations in the Israeli border area on October 7th last year, there were open expressions of joy in Malmö. There are also calls from radical Islamists for attacks on Western targets, including specific threats against Israelis and Jews worldwide, with a view to targets with high media interest.
The Security Council also referred to the arrest of two suspected Islamists in March near Gera in Thuringia who are said to have planned an attack with firearms next to the Swedish parliament. These developments fuel “the concrete concern that terrorists could take advantage of the protests and the anti-Israel atmosphere to carry out an attack on Israelis” who come to the ESC.
Security strengthened
The Swedish authorities have increased security for Malmö, but – unlike for the Israeli ESC delegation – there are no special security precautions for Israeli visitors. Regular Israeli visitors are therefore advised to download an app from the Israeli Home Front, through which they can be quickly informed of developments in the event of a security incident in Malmö during the ESC.
The ESC contribution from Israel caused quite a stir. The organizer of the competition, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), considered the text submitted to be too political. She saw this as a reference to the massacres carried out by Palestinian terrorists in Israel on October 7th. Israeli singer Eden Golan’s song was then revised and approved. Swedish artists, among others, had called for Israel to be excluded from the ESC because of the Gaza war.
In the massacre, terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups murdered around 1,200 people and kidnapped another 250 to the Gaza Strip. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, around 34,600 Palestinians are said to have been killed in the Israeli counteroffensive. The Gaza war has sparked strong protests around the world.