Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday sent a letter to leaders of United Torah Judaism following their request to prevent the desecration of Shabbat during the Eurovision Song Contest this coming weekend. In his letter, Netanyahu noted that the government does not run the Eurovision Song Contest directly and is not responsible for what happens there, and that the responsibility for what is happening in it is in the hands of the public broadcasting corporation. "I would like to make it clear that the Eurovision Song Contest is a singular international event set in advance by international standards that are not under government control and are managed exclusively by the public broadcasting corporation and not by the government," Netanyahu wrote. The Prime Minister added, however, that "the Israeli government is not interested in desecrating Shabbat, and that most of the participants in the event are from abroad and are not Jewish." "The Israeli government respects Shabbat as the day of national rest and will continue to maintain the status quo established in Israel over the years," Netanyahu said.