Advertisement After Threatening Gesture at Opening Parade for Eurovision Song Contest 2025

The broadcaster Kan showed a video in which a man with a Palestinian flag makes a horizontal hand movement across his neck, which means "slit throat" in context. Israeli media report that the threatening gesture was directed at the Israeli Eurovision Song Contest candidate Yuval Raphael and her delegation. The 24-year-old is a survivor of the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, in the Israeli border area. She was at the Nova music festival, where terrorists from the Gaza Strip carried out a massacre.

Police Stopped 150 People at Opening Parade for Eurovision Song Contest

According to the Swiss police, the opening ceremony went largely without incident. 150 people were stopped. "The police were able (...) to prevent the official event from being disrupted," they stated. The police did not report what the stopped individuals intended to do. The incident occurred on the sidelines of a colorful parade that welcomed the participants in Basel. According to Israeli reports, the demonstrator also spat in the direction of the Israeli delegation. Kan also reportedly contacted the ESC organizer EBU for help in identifying the demonstrator. Because more than 52,000 people have died in the Israeli war against terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, there is criticism of Israel's participation in the ESC. Last year's winner Nemo and 70 former ESC participants called for Israel's exclusion. There had already been demonstrations in 2024 due to the country's participation.

(APA/Red)

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