Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.05.2019, Qupperneq 4

What Are Icelanders
Talking About?
Cheers and jeers at the
news on social media
Words: Andie Fontaine Photo: Sea Life Trust
One of the hottest topics
on Icelandic social media
right now is Hatari’s arrival in Tel
Aviv to compete in the Eurovi-
sion Song Contest. There has been
strong, sharply-divided opinion
about their participation, at home
and abroad, and that continues now
as the band meet with reporters
and begins rehearsal. The timing
of their arrival in Israel coincided
with further bombardment of Gaza,
resulting in dozens of deaths and
many more injuries, enthusiasti-
cally pointed out by those who
wanted to see Hatari boycott the
song contest altogether. At the
same time, their declaration at
their first press conference in Israel
that they “hope to see an end to the
occupation” was praised by those
supportive of their stated goal to
stand up for the Palestinian cause
while at Eurovision. Calls for Hatari
to be banned altogether on the
grounds that they are “politicising”
the contest have not abated, either,
although with the main event
coming up on May 18th, that seems
increasingly unlikely to happen.
Meanwhile, closer to home,
Parliament has advanced progress
on a bill that would permit the
termination of pregnancies until
the end of the 22nd week regard-
less of circumstances. This bill has
been hotly contested in Parlia-
ment, with objections being raised
almost entirely by men—and all
five members of the Centre Party.
Notable abstentions from voting on
the bill included seven men from
the Independence Party and Minis-
ter of Culture and Education Lilja
Alfreðsdóttir. All that being the
case, the bill has passed through
two rounds of debate and commit-
tee. The bill will be put up for a final
vote soon, when it is very likely to
pass.
In lighter news, it appears
increasingly unlikely that Iceland
will adopt the “spy beluga whale”
that was first spotted in Norwe-
gian waters and suspected of being
trained by Russia. As the Grapevine
reported, there are already two
beluga whales—Little Grey and
Little White—on their way from
China to Iceland, to be settled in the
Westman Islands. While Norwegian
marine life expert Jørgen Ree Wiig
told the Washington Post that the
spy beluga whale could join Little
Grey and Little White, the company
Sea Life Trust, which is overseeing
the relocation of the Chinese beluga
whales to Iceland, does not think
this is a good idea. They contend
that when Little Grey and Little
White arrive, their health will be
in a very delicate position, where
adapting to their new surroundings
will be crucial. Plus, it turned out
it wasn't a spy whale after all, but
merely a beluga whale trained to
help developmentally disabled kids.
A heartwarming twist.
4The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 07— 2019First
From Russia with love
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