Bambie Thug has said their "heart and prayers are with the people of Palestine" amid the ongoing controversy around Israel's inclusion in this year's Eurovision, which has led to protests in Malmö on Thursday.
As Israeli entrant Eden Golan prepares to perform at tonight's second Eurovision semi-final, after being booed by some audience members during a dress rehearsal, Bambie Thug issued a statement on Instagram detailing their thoughts around taking part in the contest.
In a post to Instagram along with a video of their cover of The Cranberries classic Zombie, Bambie Thug said "history repeats in rhyme until we learn the lesson".
Bambie Thug wrote: "An important piece of music that needs to be remembered and is sadly still so relevant to our world today. I know many of you have varying opinions on my position at the moment but I am truly doing everything in my power that I can to support."
Before Tuesday's first semi-final, the Cork singer was forced to change their body paint in Ogham script - an early Medieval alphabet - which translated to "ceasefire" and "freedom", a nod to the situation in Gaza.
They explained: "After my first dress rehearsal I was asked to remove both free palestine and ceasefire in ogham from my outfit. My delegation and I fought against this and the EBU eventually agreed to letting ceasefire remain.
"About an hour before my call time I was informed that they had an internal meeting and ceasefire was no longer acceptable, and if I didn't remove this I would not be allowed on stage."
Bambie Thug concluded: "I am pro justice and pro peace and this will never change, I only hope with a platform I can reach more peoples ears.
"My heart and prayers are with the people of Palestine #eyesonrafah🇵🇸 and to be clear being pro Palestinian does not mean I am antisemitic, it means I am anti war, anti occupation, anti oppression and anti killing of innocent civilians and children!!
"Everyone born into this world should have the right to a home, safety, water, food, freedom and compassion. We must continue to strive to lead with love and look past our differences and remember that under our skin we are one human race and one spirit.
"Wake up world it is never too late to regain your conscience and admit that change must be made in the name of love."
The second Eurovision semi-final begins on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player tonight at 8pm, while the Eurovision final airs on Saturday 11 May on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player at 8pm.
