An Israeli soldier has been killed in Gaza weeks after auditioning for the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest.
Shaul Greenglick was one of three soldiers recently reported dead by the Israel Defense Forces, via The Times Of Israel, following the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
According to Billboard, Greenglick auditioned for Israel’s The Next Star, a singing competition series through which the country’s Eurovision contestant is selected, while on furlough last month.
He earned a place in the show’s next round but he reportedly dropped out of the contest in order to return to his military duties.
Baruch Dayan HaEmet
This was 26 year old Cpt. (res.) Shaul Greenglick of the Nahal Brigade’s 931st Battalion from Raanana who was killed in action in Gaza
He was once a contestant on the Israeli singing show called “The Next Star”
May his memory be for a blessing pic.twitter.com/GcycIWBCT4
— Documenting Israel (@DocumentIsrael) December 26, 2023
It comes just days after Yotam Haim, the drummer for Israeli heavy metal band Persephore, was killed by the Israel Defense Forces after being mistaken for a Hamas fighter.
Since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the Israeli military have said 170 of its soldiers have been killed. 21,800 people in Gaza, two-thirds of them women and children, have died in the conflict, according to the health ministry in Gaza (via Sky News). Around 1,200 Israelis were killed by Hamas on October 7.
Meanwhile, Eurovision was subject to backlash and boycott calls after allowing Israel to compete in next year’s competition. In addition, The Times Of Israel reported that The Association of Composers and Lyricists in Iceland called for the country not to participate in next year’s Eurovision competition unless Israel is barred from competing.
Despite the protests, the European Broadcasting Union said in a statement that it currently has no plans to ban Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest.
It added: “The Eurovision Song Contest is a competition for public broadcasters from all over Europe and the Middle East. It is a contest for broadcasters – not for governments – and the Israeli public broadcaster has been participating in the contest for 50 years.
“The EBU is a member-led organisation. The EBU’s governing bodies – led by the Board of Directors – represent the members. These bodies assessed the list of participants and decided that the Israeli public broadcaster complies with all competition rules. Together with 36 other broadcasters, it will be able to participate in the competition next year.”
Elsewhere, Olly Alexander, who is representing the UK at Eurovision next year in Malmö, Sweden, was recently criticised for signing a pro-Palestine letter calling Israel an “apartheid state” and accusing it of genocide.
The Conservative Party criticised the BBC for selecting Alexander for Eurovision, with a party spokesman telling The Telegraph: “Letting an openly anti-Israel singer compete on the same stage as Israel is either a massive oversight or sheer brass neck from the BBC… Maybe it’s time to stop letting the BBC decide who represents the UK at Eurovision.”
Meanwhile, the Jewish charity Campaign Against Antisemitism insisted that the BBC “can and must” cut ties with Alexander.