Antisemitism group say Rio Cinema's Eurovision snub 'betrays their Jewish heritage' (2024)

An antisemitism campaign group has criticised the Rio Cinema’s decision not to screen the Eurovision Song Contest final over Israel’s participation.

The popular east London cinema made headlines in March, when it announced it would be boycotting the music competition “while Israel remains in it”.

Multiple people accused the cinema, which is registered as a charity, of antisemitism and the governmental Charity Commission has launched an investigation.

Now, Campaign Against Anti-Semitism has called the cinema’s move a “betrayal to its Jewish heritage”.

A spokesperson told the Evening Standard: “The Rio Cinima’s decision not to screen Eurovision because it features the world's only Jewish state was a disgrace – all the more so given its betrayal of the cinema's Jewish heritage.

“Our polling shows that eight in ten British Jews consider themselves to be Zionists, and only six per cent do not. Boycotts and ostracism like this have real-world effects on the Jewish community.

“The Charity Commission's investigation must be thorough and robust. Antisemitism has no place in the charitable sector.”

The group is referring to the fact that the cinema was founded by the Jewish woman Clara Ludski in 1909.

She was the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Prussia, who started with a screening room in the back of her auction shop in Dalston, north-east London, all those decades ago.

It has not been confirmed, but several Jewish outlets have reported that the cinema is believed to have screened Yiddish films at one point.

The venue has grown into what is now one of the country’s oldest surviving cinemas.

The Rio Cinema has not responded to the Campaign for Anti-Semitism’s comments specifically.

At the time it announced its decision, it said: “Following discussion with the organisers of Eurovision Party London, we have collectively decided not to screen the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

“We firmly believe that the Eurovision Song Contest has the power to bring people together across the world, when its core values of inclusivity, equality and universality are upheld.

“We will continue to organise fundraising events for the charities we support, including Doctors Without Borders and Medical Aid for Palestine.”

Eurovision Party London runs the city’s biggest Eurovision screening party – not to be confused with London Eurovision Party, which runs a pre-party and stresses it is not involved in this.

The former said three weeks ago that it had made its decision with the Rio Cinema “with a heavy heart”.

“With Eurovision’s own slogan in mind, we hope that we can all be United By Music again soon,” Eurovision Party London said.

The move triggered multiple accusations of anti-Semitism which is what ultimately led to what the Charity Commission has highlighted is a “regulatory compliance case” rather than a statutory investigation.

This comes amid general calls for Israel to be boycotted in multiple contexts.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), part of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, encourages a “boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions”.

It argues they are “persistently complicit in Israel’s denial of Palestinian rights that are stipulated in international law”.

They often call for the world to treat Israel the way it did South Africa during apartheid, as they believe Palestinians are subjected to apartheid in Israel – something Israel denies.

The PACBI has specifically called for the boycott of Eurovision this year, after the competition refused to exclude Israel from participating.

Israel’s representative Eden Golan had to change her song from October Rain, which made reference to the 1,139 victims in Hamas’ October 7 massacre, to a ballad about personal crisis.

It has been more than six months since Hamas launched its deadly attack, taking hundreds of hostages, and Israel responded with a ground and air offensive which has laid waste to the besieged enclave.

More than 33,000 Palestinians have died in the war since, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

It does not differentiate between militant and civilian deaths but it claims women and children make up the majority of the toll.

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