Eurovision 2019 To Be Held In Tel Aviv Instead Of Jerusalem Amid International Backlash

The Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group chose Thursday the Israeli city of Tel Aviv as the venue for its 2019 event, allaying international concerns over the contest being held in the disputed city of Jerusalem.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2018) The Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group chose Thursday the Israeli city of Tel Aviv as the venue for its 2019 event, allaying international concerns over the contest being held in the disputed city of Jerusalem.

Apart from Tel Aviv, the reference group was also considering Eilat and, more notably, Jerusalem as possible host cities. Israel's initial proposal to hold the contest in Jerusalem sparked strong opposition from several countries including Iceland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, where political forces and the general public had called for boycotting Eurovision in the event the disputed city was chosen as the venue, citing Israel's human rights abuses against the Palestinian people.

"The 64th Eurovision Song Contest will be taking place at the Expo Tel Aviv (International Convention Center) in Israel on Tuesday 14, Thursday 16 and Saturday 18 May 2019," the statement released on the contest's official website said.

Israel seized then Jordan-controlled East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1980, the Israeli parliament adopted the Jerusalem Law proclaiming the entire city Israel's undivided capital. The international community does not recognize the annexation and believes the status of Jerusalem should be agreed with the Palestinians, who claim its eastern part as the capital of their future state.