Madonna & Hatari Spark Controversy With Palestinian Flag Displays At Eurovision

Madonna and Icelandic act Hatari have sparked controversy at this year's Eurovision competition after displaying Palestinian flags during their appearances at the Israel-hosted event.

Hatari - who placed 10th in the competition - used their points announcement segment to hold up the flags, which could see them disqualified from the competition for disregarding the rules of the Eurovision broadcast being a "non-political event".

According to ABC, chief executive of the European Broadcasting Union's Israeli counterpart Kan Eldad Koblenz has said that "the Icelanders will apparently be punished by the European Broadcasting Union, which is really not tolerant of those who violate its rules".

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Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel has condemned the action saying "Palestinian civil society overwhelmingly rejects fig-leaf gestures of solidarity from international artists crossing our peaceful picket line #Hatari" in a post to Twitter.

Palestinian civil society overwhelmingly rejects fig-leaf gestures of solidarity from international artists crossing our peaceful picket line #Hatari #BoycottEurovision2019 #ESC2019 #Eurovision2019 #esf19 #EurovisionSongContest #DareToDreamTogether #DareToDream #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/IP5MaTfQrQ

— PACBI (@PACBI) May 18, 2019

Madonna's performance of new track Future, which she sang alongside Migos' Quavo, was wrapped up with two dancers walking arm in arm up a flight of stairs on-stage, one with the Palestinian flag and the other with the Israeli flag on their backs. 

"In the live broadcast... two of Madonna's dancers briefly displayed the Israeli and Palestinian flags on the back of their outfits," quotes the BBC from an official statement from event organisations.

"This element of the performance was not part of the rehearsals which had been cleared. The Eurovision Song Contest is a non-political event and Madonna had been made aware of this."

Watch the performance below.