Papa Don’t Breach Parody Asks Madonna Not to Perform at Eurovision
Palestinian activist and artist Shahd Abusalama released a music video earlier this week asking Madonna not to perform at the upcoming Tel Aviv Eurovision Song Contest, reports CNN.
The song parodies Papa Don’t Preach, with Abusalama singing: “Israel’s been flouting international law, and human rights lie trampled on the floor. Just like South Africa, time to boycott apartheid. So please Madonna don’t go to Eurovision, Madonna don’t go, make the right decision.”
Madonna released a statement in response saying that she would not stop singing to “to suit someone’s political agenda,” but that “my heart breaks every time I hear about the innocent lives that are lost in this region and the violence that is so often perpetuated to suit the political goals of people who benefit from this ancient conflict. I hope and pray that we will soon break free from this terrible cycle of destruction and create a new path towards peace.”
“On the day we filmed this video, Palestinians in Gaza including my family were being bombed indiscriminately yet again by Israel’s apartheid regime,” Abusalama said of her music video. “If Madonna performs in Israel, crossing the international picket line, she will be helping to normalise this brutality.
“Eurovision, the world’s biggest music event, cannot claim a message for unity while being held in Israeli apartheid. Until Israel ceases its decades-long systematic denial of Palestinians rights, dispossession, land appropriation and war crimes, it must be treated as the pariah state it is by all people of conscience around the world.”
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