Category World News

Ireland, which has been critical of Israel’s war on Gaza, will withdraw from next year’s Eurovision Song Contest if Israel is permitted to compete, the national broadcaster RTE has announced.

The broadcaster in a statement on Thursday said participating would be “unconscionable” as a result of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Ireland has taken one of the strongest stances against Israel’s atrocities in Gaza and joined South Africa’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) case accusing Israel of committing genocide.

The ICJ in its interim order in January last year said Israel must take steps to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. Numerous rights organisations have said Israel’s war in Gaza is genocide.

Israel has closed its Dublin embassy in protest against Ireland’s criticism of its military actions against Palestinians.

Israel has participated in Eurovision as a longtime member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises and coproduces the annual event.

Eurovision is organised by the EBU in cooperation with its members, national public service broadcasters such as RTE, in more than 35 countries.

Recent editions of Eurovision have been overshadowed by opposition to Israel’s participation in the contest over its continuing military assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 64,000 people. Currently, the Israeli army has been carrying out relentless bombardments of Gaza City to force its nearly 1 million residents to flee.

“RTE feels that Ireland’s participation would be unconscionable given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza,” the broadcaster asserted.

The Irish broadcaster said it was also deeply concerned by “the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza, the denial of access to international journalists to the territory and the plight of the remaining hostages”.

Israel’s war has killed more than 270 journalists, making it the deadliest conflict for media workers ever recorded.

‘Still consulting’

The EBU said it understood the “concerns and deeply held views around the ongoing conflict in the Middle East”.

“We are still consulting with all EBU members to gather views on how we manage participation and geopolitical tensions around the Eurovision Song Contest,” Eurovision director Martin Green said in an emailed statement.

“Broadcasters have until mid-December to confirm if they wish to take part in next year’s event in Vienna. It is up to each member to decide if they want to take part in the contest and we would respect any decision broadcasters make.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in May that Israel should be excluded in the future. Madrid has also imposed an arms embargo on Israel.

Noting that Russia had not been allowed to take part since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he said “Israel shouldn’t either because what we cannot allow is double standards in culture”.

A final decision about Ireland’s participation in the 2026 competition will be made once the EBU makes its own decision on Israel, RTE said.

Skipper Litton Das top-scored with 59 as Bangladesh beat a spirited Hong Kong by seven wickets in their first match of the Asia Cup.

Hong Kong posted 143-7 after Nizakat Khan made 42 in Thursday’s T20 meeting in Abu Dhabi, where the minnows were invited to bat first.

Bangladesh lost two early wickets in their chase to raise Hong Kong’s hopes of an upset, but Litton put on a stand of 95 with Towhid Hridoy, who made an unbeaten 35, to reach 144-3 in 17.4 overs.

Litton reached his fifty in 33 balls, but fell to medium-pace bowler Ateeq Iqbal before Towhid hit the winning run.

It was Hong Kong’s second straight defeat in Group B, which includes Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan beat Hong Kong by 94 runs in the tournament opener.

Hong Kong lost two early wickets before Nizakat paired up with Zeeshan Ali, who made 30, in a third-wicket stand of 41.

Nizakat then got into another partnership of 46 with skipper Yasim Murtaza, who hit 28 off 19 balls, as the two counterattacked.

Murtuza was run out and leg-spinner Rishad Hossain struck twice in the next over, including taking Nizakat’s key wicket, as the Hong Kong batting lineup stuttered towards the end.

Pace bowler Tanzim Hasan Sakib stood out with figures of 2-21 from his four overs. Taskin Ahmed and Rishad also took two wickets each.

In reply, Bangladesh slipped to 47-2 before Litton and Towhid rebuilt the innings and then bossed the opposition bowling.

Pakistan will open their campaign on Friday against Oman in Dubai.

The United States has imposed a new round of sanctions on Yemen’s Houthis amid a sharp escalation of tensions in the region.

The US Treasury Department said on Thursday that it was issuing sanctions against 32 individuals and entities, as well as four vessels. The move aims to disrupt Houthi fundraising, smuggling and attack operations.

The sanctions target several China-based companies that have helped transport military-grade components to the group, as well as petroleum smugglers and Houthi-linked shipping companies, the Treasury said.

“The Houthis continue to threaten US personnel and assets in the Red Sea, attack our allies in the region and undermine international maritime security in coordination with the Iranian regime,” said John K Hurley, undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.

The Houthis have launched hundreds of drone and missile attacks on vessels in the Red Sea since late 2023 in what they say is an act of solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war in Gaza.

Back in May, the group reached an Omani-brokered ceasefire agreement with Washington, which brought to an end two months of US attacks on Yemen, as well as a broader campaign by the US and the United Kingdom.

The new sanctions come as Israel stokes major regional tensions with a number of attacks across the Middle East and its continued assault on Gaza City.

On Wednesday, Israeli strikes on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and al-Jawf governorate killed at least 35 people.

The day before, Israel struck a Hamas leadership compound in Qatar’s capital, Doha. Other attacks targeted Lebanon, Syria and Tunisia.

Two weeks ago, Israel assassinated Ahmed al-Rahawi, the prime minister of the Houthi-controlled government in Yemen, in an air strike on Sanaa in a bid to get the group to drop its allegiance with Palestinians.

Amid the escalating tensions, Jordan’s foreign ministry announced on Thursday that the Houthis had released Jordanian citizen Lana Shukri Kataw, the deputy representative of UNICEF, from detention.