Iceland’s Hatari unveils “Palestine” banners on camera whilst receiving their score, Eurovision 2019. (photo credit: SCREENSHOT/KAN)
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There were not one but two appearances of Palestinian flags at the Eurovision grand finale on Saturday night in Tel Aviv.
The first came during a performance by Madonna and guest star Quavo of her latest single, “Future.” As the pop superstar sang the lyrics “Not everyone is coming to the future/ Not everyone is learning from the past/ Not everyone can come into the future/ Not everyone that’s here is gonna last,” the dancers on stage at the Expo Tel Aviv paired off and walked up the stairs hand in hand. Two of the dancers had flags emblazoned on their backs: one Palestinian and one Israeli. 
Almost an hour later, during the announcement of the televotes from around the world, the Palestinian flag made another appearance. Eurovision co-host Erez Tal told the BDSM-supporting anti-capitalist Hatari of Iceland that they were given 186 points from voters. The camera cut to the green room, where the band was sitting alongside the other delegations. The band members unrolled several banners reading Palestine and decorated with the Palestinian flag.
Hatari has been outspoken and heavily critical of the Israeli government for months, and said they would use the attention of the competition to bring attention to Palestinians. During their time in the country, they toured Hebron and, in an interview to a Eurovision blog, said the “apartheid” was clear in the city.
The EBU released statements shortly after the competition ended condemning both usages of the Palestinian flag.
Regarding Madonna, organizers said “this element of the performance was not part of the rehearsals which had been cleared with the EBU and the Host Broadcaster, KAN. The Eurovision Song Contest is a non-political event and Madonna had been made aware of this.”
And when it came to Iceland, the EBU indicated it was considering punitive action against the country.
“The Eurovision Song Contest is a non-political event and this directly contradicts the contest rules,” the EBU said early Sunday morning. “The banners were quickly removed and the consequences of this action will be discussed by the Reference Group (the contest’s executive board) after the contest.”
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