Campaigners are planning to step up calls to boycott this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Israel.
Sadaka, the Irish-Palestine Alliance, is launching a new campaign to raise awareness about the reality of life for hundreds of Palestinian children who are detained, interrogated and imprisoned every year.
Called 'Nothing to Sing About', the campaign will be launched on Thursday in Dublin city centre.
The Palestinian ambassador to Ireland, Mr Hikmat Ajjuri, will join Palestinian and Irish children for the launch at the Italian Quarter.
Sadaka has said while it acknowledges that Eurovision 2019 is going ahead and that Ireland is sending an entry, it wants to use the Eurovision as an opportunity to highlight "the unjust reality of life for young Palestinians so that viewers might think about life 'on the other side of the fence'".
The campaign features a young boy, with an ironic connection to Ireland, who was detained by Israeli forces in Hebron in 2017 when he was just 12 years of age.
He has been arrested twice since.
The campaign will appear on Dublin buses and on social media for the coming two weeks.
Sadaka has claimed that in 2018, an average of 271 children were held in Israeli prisons at any given time.
It said up to 1,000 children between 12 and 17 are detained annually - many for long periods of time without charge.
Musicians and political activists here have joined forces to call for a boycott of the annual song contest.
Critics say no Irish entry should be sent to Israel, in protest over the occupation of Palestinian territories.
The London-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign is also calling on the BBC, songwriters and performers to withdraw from the 2019 event.
The Eurovision semi-finals will take place on May 14th and 16th - with the Grand Final on May 18th.
Ireland's Sarah McTernan is set to perform '22' on the night of the second semi-final in Tel Aviv.
RTÉ's Director-General Dee Forbes has previously said the broadcaster will not sanction any staff member who declines to travel to Israel to cover the event on conscientious grounds.
Main image: Ireland - Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) national organiser Aisling Micklethwaite and press officer Betty Purcell demonstrating outside RTÉ studios in Dublin in March 2019 | Image: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie
