Eden Golan, who represented Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, has been placed on Ukraine’s notorious Mirotvorets website for participating in a children’s song competition in Crimea back when she was just 12 years old.
Ukraine’s infamous Mirotvorets, or Peacekeeper, database, has often been dubbed Kiev’s ‘kill list’ and criticized by human rights organizations. The website, reportedly run by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, lists enemies of the state and marks them as “liquidated” in the event of their death. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is widely believed to be behind the deaths of multiple people on the database, including Russian journalist Darya Dugina and military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky.
The 20-year-old singer who holds a dual Israeli-Russian citizenship was apparently added to the database earlier this year, shortly after she won both the jury and public vote to become the Israeli representative at the Eurovision. However, it went largely unnoticed until she made it to the finals of the contest this week.
Every single person booing as Eden Golan started to sing, deserve to be deported and live the rest of their lives in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/JPAppggoXP
— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) May 11, 2024
According to the Ukrainian website, Golan is accused of “conscious violation of the state border of Ukraine,” conducting “illegal commercial activity in the territories of Ukraine”, attempting to “legalize the occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea” as well as participating “in anti-Ukrainian propaganda activities of Russia.”
Golan was born in Israel with both her parents originating from the USSR, with mother of Ukrainian-Jewish and father of Latvian-Jewish descent. Her family moved back to Russia when she was six, and lived in Moscow for over a decade, before returning to Israel in 2022.
Back in 2016, when Golan was only 12 years old, she took part in the Novaya Volna (New Wave) competition in Artek – an international children’s resort in Crimea – where she performed a duet with Russian singer and songwriter Nyusha. That performance was her single “crime” listed on the infamous database.
Golan has become the focus for protests by pro-Palestinian demonstrations after she was selected to represent Israel in the pan-continental song completion held in Sweden this year. Thousands of protesters descended on the Swedish city of Malmo this week, where the event is being held, demanding that Israel be kicked out of Eurovision over the ongoing war in Gaza. Despite her performance being booed by the crowd, Golan reached the contest’s finals with her song Hurricane eventually winning the 5th place.
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