More than one hundred people in Finland have signed a petition calling on Yle to demand the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) prevent Israel's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC).
Additionally, the petition's authors stated that the Finnish public broadcaster should not send a contestant to ESC if Israel is allowed to take part in the contest, due to the conflict in Gaza.
The petition had garnered signatures of more than 100 people, including Finnish artists and actors, by Tuesday afternoon. The effort was initiated by a group called Sumud, the Finnish Palestine Network.
"It goes against our values to allow a state guilty of genocide and occupation policies to use a prominent cultural event to improve its image under the guise of music. By participating alongside Israel, other countries implicitly endorse its actions," the page read.
There were similar calls for boycotts and demands for Israel's removal from ESC, last year.
There have been other calls to exclude Israel, including when Slovenia's public broadcaster RTV demanded in December that Israel be banned from the contest.
Organised by the EBU, this year the Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held in Basel, Switzerland in May. As the Finnish public broadcaster, Yle is a partner of the EBU.
Finland will decide which one of six acts will be chosen to represent the country at the ESC this weekend.
The Contest for New Music (UMK) competition will be held at the Nokia Arena in Tampere on Saturday, 8 February. Yle is offering commentary of UMK25 in English, as it streams the event on Areena. The coverage begins at 9pm Finnish time.