The San Remo Italian Song Festival – Italy’s biggest show business event – has come under fire from Israel after rapper Gali, who took part in the finals of the competition, called on stage to “stop the genocide”, writes The Guardian , quoted by News .ro.

Alon Bar, Israel’s ambassador to Italy, said the festival, which attracts millions of viewers and is used to select Italy’s Eurovision entrants, had been used to “spread hatred and provocation in a superficial and irresponsible way” after Gali’s call.

“During the October 7 massacre, the 1,200 victims included more than 360 young people killed and raped during the Nova music festival,” Bar wrote on social media. “Another 40 of them were stolen and are still in the hands of terrorists. The San Remo Festival could express its solidarity with them. It is a pity that this did not happen,” he added.

Noemi Di Segni, president of the Union of Jewish Communities of Italy, told the Ansa news agency that she was disappointed that the platform was not used to call for the release of the hostages.

“And they have the right to their music and to return to their homes,” she said. Amid the controversy, Roberto Sergio, CEO of state-run Rai television, which broadcasts the festival, expressed solidarity “with the Israeli people and the Jewish community.”

He stated that the TV channel’s programs “talk about the tragedy of the hostages in the hands of Hamas every day” and will continue to do so, while recalling the “massacre” of October 7.

A message for peace at the Sanremo festival

Asked to comment on the reaction, Bara Gali, whose parents came to Italy from Tunisia, said on the Domenica In show:

“I have always spoken about these issues, since childhood, not since October 7… the fact that the ambassador is speaking like that is not good. The politics of terror continues, people are afraid to say: stop the war, stop the genocide, we live in a moment when people feel that they are losing something if they say “Long live peace”.

Other artists spoke out against the war during the event. Singer Eros Ramazotti said: “No more blood, no more wars”, while rapper and singer Dargen D’Amico said: “There are children under bombs, without water and without food. Our silence is co-responsibility.”

The Sanremo festival, the final of which this year was won by Angelina Mango, is rarely without controversy or criticism from Italy’s far-right parties.

Lucio Malan, a senator from Fratelli d’Italia, the party led by Prime Minister Giorgia Maloney, said: “A music festival is not the place to talk about an international crisis, especially if it is done in one direction.”