A number of leading British artists have signed a petition that ran in the UK's Guardian newspaper on Tuesday, urging the BBC to pressure organizers of the Eurovision pop song contest to move this year's competition out of Israel.
Israeli singer Netta Barzilai won the 2018 competition, and the competition is traditionally held in the most recent winner's home country.
Signatories to the petition include former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters and Peter Gabriel, actress Julie Christie, and directors Mike Lee and Ken Loach.
"Eurovision may be light entertainment, but it is not exempt from human rights considerations – and we cannot ignore Israel's systematic violation of Palestinian human rights," the open letter read.
The artists went on to say that the decision by Eurovision organizers to hold the competition in Tel Aviv rather than the capital, Jerusalem, out of political considerations "does nothing to protect Palestinians from land theft, evictions, shootings, beatings, and more."
Appearing in Tel Aviv would be a "dubious honor" for "any artist of conscience," the letter stated.
