Israel has accused the BBC of shirking its “moral responsibility” after The Telegraph revealed its choice of Eurovision entrant branded the country an “apartheid regime”.

Olly Alexander, who the Corporation has selected to represent Britain in the song contest in Sweden in May, put his name to a letter that also accused the Middle East nation of genocide.

Anti-Semitism campaigners have demanded that the corporation cut ties with the pop star but it is understood the national broadcaster does not plan to take any action.

The letter signed by Alexander, which attacked the Israeli military response to the October 7 terror attacks, was published just under two weeks after the massacre, in which Hamas began its war against Israel by killing more than 1,300 people.

Sharing a link to this newspaper’s report on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Embassy of Israel in London said: “Clearly, Olly Alexander graduated from the Middle Eastern School of TikTok.

“We would be happy to arrange a trip for you to visit the Oct 7 massacre sites in Israel, where the rights of LGBTQ+ [people] are celebrated, protected and cherished. Unfortunately, our neighbours can’t guarantee the same.”

TikTok has been accused of failing to do enough to stop the spread of pro-Hamas propaganda and anti-Semitic content during the conflict. The company has said that its algorithm does not influence impressionable users, and that it has removed hundreds of thousands of videos related to the war.

Same-sex activity between men is illegal in Palestine and carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years, while Israel is seen as the most gay-friendly country in the Middle East, hosting annual pride parades in big cities.

It came as the Israeli government joined criticism of Alexander, labelling his arguments “absurd” and accusing those who signed the letter of anti-Israel bias.

‘Absurd obsession’

An Israeli official told The Telegraph: “Few things are more absurd than the queer community standing with a radical Islamist society in its obsession to destroy the only country in the Middle East where queer people can simply be themselves.

“It warrants serious research to figure out where it is coming from, if not from pure anti-Semitism. As for genocide – it is defined as ‘acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group’.

“It is clear to any unbiased person that the only genocide in this country took place on October 7, and the victims were Israelis.”

An Israeli Embassy spokesman told The Telegraph: “Yet again, the BBC has fallen well short of its moral responsibility to adhere to the standard of due impartiality.

“Particularly at this time, the decision of the BBC to send an entrant to Eurovision who espouses such partial views of Israel and promotes such dehumanising language of Israelis is a major cause for concern.”

The letter that was signed by Alexander, and coordinated by LGBT group Voices4London, labelled solidarity with Palestine a “queer issue” and railed against “Zionist propaganda” and “unthinking philosemitism”.

On Thursday, the broadcaster Angela Epstein, who is Jewish, joined calls for the BBC to drop Alexander from the contest and accused it of a “pathetic” response to the letter.

“It’s a bit of a dog ate my homework excuse that he signed it before he was appointed,” Epstein told LBC Radio.

“With profile comes responsibility, so he’s propagating lies which are anti-Israel which therefore contribute to spiralling anti-Semitism… It’s a bit like [Gary] Lineker, with profile comes responsibility. A lot of people listen to you and it’s a privilege that they listen to you, so you have to be accurate.

“The BBC, which is already being accused of bias in its reporting of Israel … They are grasping at straws to justify their position. If they really want to do something for the Jewish community or anyone who believes in humanity or equality they should make him stand down.”

Since the Oct 7 attacks, the BBC has faced heavy criticism of its coverage of fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas, a group it refuses to refer to as “terrorists”.

The BBC declined to comment on Alexander’s comments. A representative for the pop star and Voices4London were contacted for comment.