Organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest — the world’s largest music event — on Thursday began two days of debate about Israel’s future participation, after mounting calls to exclude it, notably due to the war in Gaza.
Members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) met behind closed doors and under tight security in Geneva, following threats of mass withdrawals from the annual show if Israel takes part next year.
Voting arrangements are also on the agenda, after Israel’s Yuval Raphael — a survivor of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack — was propelled into second place overall after the public vote, prompting suspicions about manipulation.
Similar concerns were raised the previous year after Israel’s Eden Golan was catapulted into fifth place despite lacklustre scoring from national juries.
Eurovision entries are scored first by professional juries, then the public by phone, text or online, which often radically alters the leader board.
Countries including Iceland, Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands have all threatened in recent months to pull out of Eurovision next year if Israel takes part.
Others, including Belgium, Finland and Sweden, have also indicated they were considering a boycott over the situation in Gaza.
The head of Spanish public broadcaster RVTE, Jose Pablo Lopez, on Thursday said that by not acting sooner, the EBU had subjected itself to “the greatest internal tension in its history”.
“The sanctions against Israel for its repeated breaches at Eurovision should have been adopted at the executive level and not by shifting the conflict to the (general) assembly”, he wrote on X.
Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS justified its threat to withdraw because of what it said was Israel’s “serious violation of press freedom” in Gaza.
Countries cannot vote for their own entry, but AVROTROS accused Israel of “proven interference” at the last event this year by lobbying the public overseas to vote for it.
– ‘Political ends’ –
The EBU had planned to convene member broadcasters in November for a vote on the issue.
But a few days after the October 10 announcement of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the EBU postponed a decision until its ordinary general assembly on December 4 and 5.
Last month, in an apparent bid to avoid a contentious vote, the EBU announced that it had changed Eurovision voting rules to address members’ concerns and to strengthen “trust and transparency”.
Broadcasters will now be asked to consider whether the new measures are sufficient or whether they still wish to see a vote on Israel’s participation.
“The plan is to discuss and vote on these changes during the EBU General Assembly meeting later today,” Finland’s public broadcaster Yle said on Thursday.
“Yle will make its decision on participating in Eurovision based on the outcome of the discussion and vote at the meeting.
Austria’s public broadcaster ORF, which will host the 2026 contest, has expressed hope that a consensus can be reached so that it can host “as many participants as possible”.
But other broadcasters have suggested the new EBU measures are insufficient.
Iceland’s RUV said last week it would call for Israel to be expelled before determining its own participation in 2026.
Spain’s RTVE reaffirmed its intention to boycott the competition if Israel is allowed to take part and accused the country of using the contest “for political ends”.
Slovenia’s public broadcaster is also set to snub the contest, judging from a budget passed last week that included no funds for participation.
But RTV Slovenija chief Natasa Gorscak said “we would propose… to participate” if Israel is shut out.
Any exclusion would not be a first. Russia was barred from taking part following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and Belarus was excluded a year earlier after the contested re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko.
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