President Trump with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem on Oct. 13. EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest on Tuesday postponed a vote on whether to ban Israel from participating in next year's competition. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which oversees Eurovision, said it would delay its decision until its winter general assembly on Dec. 4, citing "the need for open and in-person discussion" in light of "recent developments in the Middle East." Israel and Hamas moved ahead on a key first step of the tenuous Gaza ceasefire agreement by freeing hostages and detainees on Monday. Many obstacles remain to a lasting peace - including whether Israel will pull its military entirely out of Gaza, whether Hamas will disarm and who will govern Gaza - but the peace plan may already be shifting the debate around calls to ban and boycott culture coming out of Israel. Related Stories News Whitney Cummings on Riyadh Comedy Festival Controversy: "It's Just Racism" Movies 'Ish' Filmmakers on Turning Real-Life Trauma Into a Lyrical Debut About Racial Injustice The decision to postpone the Eurovision vote comes as other cultural and media organizations that have endorsed or considered boycotts of Israeli institutions face growing scrutiny and potential legal challenges. This week, the advocacy group U.K. Lawyers for Israel sent a letter warning studios, broadcasters and agencies that participation in a film-industry boycott could constitute a violation of British law under the Equality Act, which outlaws discrimination on the basis of nationality or religion. The letter, first reported by Variety, was sent to the BBC, ITV, Film4 and the U.K. headquarters of Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon Studios and Warner Bros. Discovery, as well as U.K. entertainment unions including Bectu and Equity, talent agencies Curtis Brown and United Agents and film bodies such as Pact and the BFI. In the U.S., the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law sent out a similar letter earlier this month, arguing that the cultural boycott initiated by the group Film Workers for Palestine violates federal and state civil-rights statutes. Since its launch in September, the Film Workers for Palestine (FWP) campaign has attracted more than 5,000 signatories, including actors and directors such as Emma Stone, Olivia Colman, Yorgos Lanthimos, Mark Ruffalo, Tilda Swinton and Ayo Edebiri, who have pledged not to work with Israeli film institutions "implicated in genocide and apartheid." Supporters say the boycott is a form of nonviolent protest and not discriminatory because it targets institutions, not individuals. Like other cultural boycotts of Israel, the Film Workers for Palestine pledge and the proposed Eurovision ban are premised on the idea that certain Israeli institutions have been complicit in Israel's military actions in Gaza. Hamas and other groups led the terrorist attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, taking 251 hostages and sparking the Gaza war. UN investigators last month determined that Israel's military response - which has killed more than 68,000 people in Gaza and has involved the blocking of aid and the destruction of schools, hospitals and a fertility clinic - was carried out with the "intent to destroy the Palestinians" in the territory and meets the legal definition of "genocide." Israel is also fighting allegations at the International Court of Justice of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel has denied the claims. Film Workers for Palestine, at least, has no plans to stop its campaign. "We share in the relief of Palestinians in Gaza that Israel's relentless slaughter may be coming to an end," a FWP spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter, responding via email. "However, its genocide continues, since Israel has systematically destroyed the necessary conditions for sustaining life. Hospitals, basic services, water treatment and food production have been utterly decimated, which means the genocide will not end with a ceasefire, nor does this ceasefire bring about justice or accountability." The boycott, the spokesperson added, "would only cease to be relevant once Israel's illegal occupation and apartheid in Palestine has been dismantled and the necessary conditions to sustain life have been restored, as required by international law." Within Israel, filmmakers argue that they are the wrong targets for such sanctions. The country's film industry, they say, has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Netanyahu government and its conduct in Gaza. "If you oppose Netanyahu's Israeli government, targeting us is like shooting yourself in the leg," says Israeli documentary filmmaker Mi