Zara Larsson declined to perform at 2024 Eurovision due to Israel's participation

[Teletubby 152,870]

 

[PartySick 162,493]

Good for her!  

[River 118,965]

But to perform in Dubai she was fine with it LOL, as long as the money talks 

go f-ck yourself, another fake righteous celebrity with a fake moral compass 

[gumzy3000 7,455]

6 minutes ago, River said:

But to perform in Dubai she was fine with it LOL, as long as the money talks 

go f-ck yourself, another fake righteous celebrity with a fake moral compass 

Is Dubai committing a g*nocide? 

Spoiler

I'm fully aware of the issues Dubai has when it comes to human rights and their racism and treatment of third world workers but its not comparable to what Israel is doing in Gaza.  

 

[River 118,965]

22 minutes ago, gumzy3000 said:

Is Dubai committing a g*nocide? 

  Hide contents

I'm fully aware of the issues Dubai has when it comes to human rights and their racism and treatment of third world workers but its not comparable to what Israel is doing in Gaza.  

 

Through proxy, yes, in Sudan, by funding the RSF through weapons and money and calling it "humanitarian aid" and supporting other groups that committed atrocities with weapons that were provided by Dubai in Libya, Somelia and others places + the human rights situation there.

Bringing the genocide every time to justify these kind of hypocrisy of celebrities, is a cheap argument.

 

They either go full gas human rights and woke, or they are just riding on a trend for a cheap PR stunt.

[MadArchitect 1,210]

ngl Gaga's silence is deafening atp, i wonder why she hasn't said anything....

[nATAH 51,498]

17 minutes ago, MadArchitect said:

ngl Gaga's silence is deafening atp, i wonder why she hasn't said anything....

cus everytime a celebrity speaks up, it's never the perfect statement

[MadArchitect 1,210]

12 minutes ago, nATAH said:

cus everytime a celebrity speaks up, it's never the perfect statement

a celebrity or anyone, it doesn't have to be a perfect statement, just something to know where she stands, she like did for Ukraine

[TheARTPOPball 838]

1 hour ago, MadArchitect said:

a celebrity or anyone, it doesn't have to be a perfect statement, just something to know where she stands, she like did for Ukraine

It does. And tbh in this political climate i think it’s quite dangerous to be so publicly outspoken. Ppl will literally kill over disagreements these days. Sad but truth. 

[Bronco 13,293]

7 hours ago, gumzy3000 said:

Is Dubai committing a g*nocide? 

  Hide contents

I'm fully aware of the issues Dubai has when it comes to human rights and their racism and treatment of third world workers but its not comparable to what Israel is doing in Gaza.  

 

Not comparable on the genocide ofc.

But if you're refusing to reform on political grounds over Israel (which I support) you have to then ask why her politics sees no issue with taking money from Dubai etc

[MonsterPaws 2,742]

7 hours ago, River said:

Through proxy, yes, in Sudan, by funding the RSF through weapons and money and calling it "humanitarian aid" and supporting other groups that committed atrocities with weapons that were provided by Dubai in Libya, Somelia and others places + the human rights situation there.

Bringing the genocide every time to justify these kind of hypocrisy of celebrities, is a cheap argument.

 

They either go full gas human rights and woke, or they are just riding on a trend for a cheap PR stunt.

Edit: I also use The Economist as my source because while4 they tend to be fairly unbiased (except for the Tory lean in the UK), they also have historically been fairly light on their critique of Israel and heavy on their bias against Arab states. Not even The Economist can spin Israel's atrocities.

Through proxy includes nearly every weapon-producing country on the planet, including the US where Zara performed and continues  to perform and several European countries (I wouldn't exclude Sweden either).

The UAE (of which Dubai is a state) is far from unique in that regard,

However, Israel's very existence was built and continues to be built on the displacement, cultural erasure, weaponized famine, and genocide of an entire people and culture including increasingly enriching on territories agreed by Israeli and Palestinian authorities (no not Hamas) to be off limits.

The UAE s nowhere near the human rights violation level of Israel.

This frankly tired whataboutism simply does not hold here and is frankly cheap. Especially when Israel proudly proclaims to be the "only liberal democratic country in the Middle East" and yet their human rights situation in the region is easily the most disturbing

https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/09/18/palestine-is-unrecognisable-on-the-ground

I'd love you to find anything remotely equivalent to the following in the UAE:

Spoiler

 Often the Arabic transliterations of the Hebrew have been blacked out. A billboard in Hebrew salutes the Hilltop Youth, Jewish extremists on a mission to rid the land of Arabs.

These settlers have found ways of accelerating the land grab. Establishing legal settlements involves tedious red tape. Instead, settlers have created dozens of new farming outposts, which have quadrupled in number since 2018. They now cover 14% of the West Bank [mind you the West Bank is NOT controlled by Hamas], according to Kerem Navot, an Israeli monitor. Some of the shepherds are so violent they were previously deemed too dangerous for conscription into Israel’s armed forces. Past governments called their raids pogroms, in which Jews were the perpetrators. But this one issues them guns and uniforms. Formally the state considers their farmsteads illegal. In reality it provides them with electricity, water, fences and military protection. And it turns a blind eye when they burn and destroy Palestinian olive groves and wells.

...

Each election the calls for Arab citizens to be stripped of their vote grow louder ["democracy"]

...

But Israel’s Jewish population is less inclined to integration than ever. A survey in May showed over half wanted to exile Palestinians who have Israeli citizenship. Around 80% want to expel Palestinians from Gaza, almost double the rate of two decades ago, at the height of the second intifada. Many Palestinians fear that Israel could repeat in the West Bank what it has done in Gaza. The euphoria in New York has not reached Bethlehem. As one grocer there puts it: “We’ve learnt that the promise of change for the better always ends in change for the worse.”

Edited Thursday at 08:32 AM by MonsterPaws

[River 118,965]

31 minutes ago, MonsterPaws said:

Edit: I also use The Economist as my source because while4 they tend to be fairly unbiased (except for the Tory lean in the UK), they also have historically been fairly light on their critique of Israel and heavy on their bias against Arab states. Not even The Economist can spin Israel's atrocities.

Through proxy includes nearly every weapon-producing country on the planet, including the US where Zara performed and continues  to perform and several European countries (I wouldn't exclude Sweden either).

The UAE (of which Dubai is a state) is far from unique in that regard,

However, Israel's very existence was built and continues to be built on the displacement, cultural erasure, weaponized famine, and genocide of an entire people and culture including increasingly enriching on territories agreed by Israeli and Palestinian authorities (no not Hamas) to be off limits.

The UAE s nowhere near the human rights violation level of Israel.

This frankly tired whataboutism simply does not hold here and is frankly cheap. Especially when Israel proudly proclaims to be the "only liberal democratic country in the Middle East" and yet their human rights situation in the region is easily the most disturbing

https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/09/18/palestine-is-unrecognisable-on-the-ground

I'd love you to find anything remotely equivalent to the following in the UAE:

  Reveal hidden contents

 Often the Arabic transliterations of the Hebrew have been blacked out. A billboard in Hebrew salutes the Hilltop Youth, Jewish extremists on a mission to rid the land of Arabs.

These settlers have found ways of accelerating the land grab. Establishing legal settlements involves tedious red tape. Instead, settlers have created dozens of new farming outposts, which have quadrupled in number since 2018. They now cover 14% of the West Bank [mind you the West Bank is NOT controlled by Hamas], according to Kerem Navot, an Israeli monitor. Some of the shepherds are so violent they were previously deemed too dangerous for conscription into Israel’s armed forces. Past governments called their raids pogroms, in which Jews were the perpetrators. But this one issues them guns and uniforms. Formally the state considers their farmsteads illegal. In reality it provides them with electricity, water, fences and military protection. And it turns a blind eye when they burn and destroy Palestinian olive groves and wells.

...

Each election the calls for Arab citizens to be stripped of their vote grow louder ["democracy"]

...

But Israel’s Jewish population is less inclined to integration than ever. A survey in May showed over half wanted to exile Palestinians who have Israeli citizenship. Around 80% want to expel Palestinians from Gaza, almost double the rate of two decades ago, at the height of the second intifada. Many Palestinians fear that Israel could repeat in the West Bank what it has done in Gaza. The euphoria in New York has not reached Bethlehem. As one grocer there puts it: “We’ve learnt that the promise of change for the better always ends in change for the worse.”

It's not whataboutism, it's a fact, you can fight against both genocide and the human rights and not throw under the bus LGBTQ+, women, slavery, and so on because you get money for that.

You don't need to teach me the atrocities my country does, I know them well.

I'm so tired of this nitpicking "left wing".

Just be brave enough to speak about what Dubai does without saying "but but but the genocide" - this is a cheap whataboutism

[nATAH 51,498]

4 hours ago, MadArchitect said:

a celebrity or anyone, it doesn't have to be a perfect statement, just something to know where she stands, she like did for Ukraine

it's pretty obvious where she stands, but even this thread is proof celebs can't wait cus now zara is being criticised for picking and choosing when to speak up

[gumzy3000 7,455]

14 hours ago, River said:

Through proxy, yes, in Sudan, by funding the RSF through weapons and money and calling it "humanitarian aid" and supporting other groups that committed atrocities with weapons that were provided by Dubai in Libya, Somelia and others places + the human rights situation there.

Bringing the genocide every time to justify these kind of hypocrisy of celebrities, is a cheap argument.

 

They either go full gas human rights and woke, or they are just riding on a trend for a cheap PR stunt.

I wasn't aware of Dubai funding weapons in Sudan so I will need to look into that. 

I have to disagree with your last point. That kind of attitude is exactly why so many people choose not to speak out — they’re afraid of being judged for not doing it “the right way.” Sure, celebrities are under more scrutiny, but that doesn’t mean they should stay silent out of fear of backlash or because they can’t comment on everything. No one speaks up about every single issue — that’s just not realistic.

Progress doesn’t always happen all at once; sometimes it’s made through countless small steps. 

As Lady Gaga said it best:

“And now, I'm just trying to change the world, one sequin at a time.”

[River 118,965]

21 minutes ago, gumzy3000 said:

I wasn't aware of Dubai funding weapons in Sudan so I will need to look into that. 

I have to disagree with your last point. That kind of attitude is exactly why so many people choose not to speak out — they’re afraid of being judged for not doing it “the right way.” Sure, celebrities are under more scrutiny, but that doesn’t mean they should stay silent out of fear of backlash or because they can’t comment on everything. No one speaks up about every single issue — that’s just not realistic.

Progress doesn’t always happen all at once; sometimes it’s made through countless small steps. 

As Lady Gaga said it best:

“And now, I'm just trying to change the world, one sequin at a time.”

But here it’s different, she chose willingly to get blood money from Dubai and ignored everything that the country does, even yo her most loyal fans, the LGBTQ+ community.

So for me, she just said that she declined to perform at the Eurovision, if we assume that it’s even true, is simply a pr stunt and an abuse of the suffering of the Palestinian people for a few likes and shares.