The Israeli government ordered the military to end its strikes on the occupied Gaza Strip before the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, according to Haaretz.
Citing unnamed defense officials yesterday, the paper said that the political leadership’s position conflicted with the military’s view “that it should show its willingness to keep fighting”.
Still think that @Eurovision is not political? Israel is scheduling bombing around it. @Madonna use your voice for freedom and equality. Your actions will speak louder than any words on a stage that Palestinians and allies have asked you to boycott. https://t.co/sbSFXIvEbQ
— JewishVoiceForPeace (@jvplive) May 6, 2019
Haaretz noted that “according to the army’s assessments”, the fighting “will resume within days or weeks” if “the political leadership does not make progress on implementing the agreements to improve Gazans’ daily lives”.
Although the “senior political leadership” claimed that the upcoming Israel Independence Day, Memorial Day and the Eurovision Song Contest “were not determining factors in deciding whether to continue the fighting”, Israel’s “military leadership operated throughout with the understanding that the escalation must end quickly”.
As Israel bombs residential housing blocs and kills pregnant women in Gaza, #Eurovision2019 in Tel Aviv is shaping up as a flop.
“I’ve never seen a situation where there are so many unsold seats this close to the show.” https://t.co/0bCf66Ih8O via @AsaWinstanley
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) May 6, 2019
Haaretz also reported that
“The Israel Air Force and military intelligence attempted to carry out a more aggressive campaign in Gaza than in recent rounds”, but also “maintained the caution required to avoid promoting Hamas and Islamic Jihad from firing at the Tel Aviv metropolitan area – a situation that could have escalated into more days of fighting”.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
