Israel issued a warning to its citizens against attending the annual Eurovision song contest in Malmö, Sweden, due to the possible threat of a terrorist attack.
This year’s contest in Sweden will be taking place from Tuesday to May 11. Israel‘s National Security Council says that Malmö is a hub of pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests due to its Syrian, Lebanese, Iraqi and Iranian immigrant populations.
“On October 7 (the day of the Hamas attack on Israel), anti-Israeli groups in Malmö publicly celebrated the massacre of Israelis,” Israeli officials said.
The Israeli NSC also cited the March 19 arrest in Gera, Germany, of two people, one an accused supporter of ISIS and the other an accused member of the terrorist group, who planned to attack Sweden‘s parliament.
The pair were Afghan citizens and wanted to attack Sweden‘s parliament in retribution for burnings of the Quran in the county, according to CNN.
As such, the Israeli government fears that individual Israeli citizens could be targeted. The threat level specifically for Malmö was increased from a potential threat to a moderate threat.
The threat level for Sweden as a whole was unchanged.
Eurovision is a multinational song contest organized each year by the European Broadcasting Union, a group representing Europe’s public broadcasting organizations. Famous winners have included ABBA, who won in 1974 for “Waterloo” and Celine Dion, who won in 1988 representing Switzerland.
Although Israel is not geographically European, it has competed each year since 1973.