Israel and Eurovision

[Carly944]

I've seen all the protests that Israel shouldn't have been allowed to enter the Eurovision. I don't think politics should be part of eurovision

Has everyone forgotten that a lot of countries at this stage have invaded each other, and that a lot of countries have a bloody and violent past.

The United Kingdom invaded many countries and massacred and killed many many people in the past.

Germany have obviously started two world wars.

Spain have invaded countries and done a lot of brutality to people in the past.

Should none of these countries be allowed to enter eurovision then. If we are going to put politics into it, nearly every European country would be banned from eurovision.

Israel is far from the only country in the world that have invaded and massacred people. Its awful, but it has also been awful when other countries did it. And many of them have. So I'm not sure why there was just the call for Israel to be banned

I’ve been going back and forth on this. Russia were barred from entering due to the invasion and war in Ukraine so it is hard to say that Eurovision is not political and that those decisions are not made due to current conflict. HOWEVER this current war in Gaza has been escalated to the man-made humanitarian crisis it is now in response to a particularly brutal, and ongoing, terrorist attack in Israel. It is a very uncomfortable decision that I truly don’t feel clever enough to make.

Holding Jewish people responsible for the actions of the Israeli government is revoltingly anti-Semitic though and I feel sorry that the Israeli contestant had to go through some of the things that she did. It is terrifying that she was under armed guard!

however it does feel slightly absurd to see the images coming out of Gaza alongside all this handwringing about bloody Eurovision. There was so much depressing chaos in the build up to it, I’m not sure the contest should even have gone ahead this year. We were clearly not ‘united by music’. Perhaps pulling the whole bloody thing may have been a stronger statement.

(I am editing this post as I re-read it and I don’t think I was clear enough: I can see why people felt that Israel should not be allowed to compete this year).

I think it's how extreme Israel's genocide is, the sheer scale and instensity. Man made famine, as many dead children in 7 months as in all conflicts worldwide over the last 4 years, bombing a population who you are not letting leave.

The vote really doesn't seem to reflect public opinion in many countries who've done polling.

October the 7th was terrible.

But killing tens of thousands of civilians including children in Palestine is terrible too.

Most of the leaders of the Western world are calling Netanyahu to change his tactics due to the severe civilian suffering in Palestine.

Russia was banned and rightly so , thousands more have been murdered by Israel. The victims of Israel however aren’t white enough ! That’s the truth of it.

Moroccan oil ( the company) is also a sponsor of the Eurovision, and is an Israeli owned company !

The editing of the crowd noise when the Israeli contestant was on stage was really quite something by the producers. The booing was largely unnoticeable on the tv coverage but there’s footage shared online from inside the arena and it does seem quite loud.

Politics has always been part of Eurovision. Northern Irish Catholic singer Clodagh Rodgers received death threats from the IRA when she represented the UK back in 1971.

I don’t feel anyone is holding Jewish people responsible, it’s the Israeli government that should be held responsible.

The Israeli singer was representing her country hence the protests.

Thousands of Jews have marched in support of Palestine but this just gets skimmed over most of the time

Yes, quite. Israel seems to be one of the most propagandised countries in the world - the level of anti Palestinian content particularly around labelling anyone that marches as a terrorist supporter is deeply disturbing.

I think we’ll look back at this period with what’s being done in Gaza with absolute shame and horror as a dark period in world history.

The comparison with Russia would’ve been appropriate if Ukrainian forces had stormed a remote Russian settlement, taken hundreds of Russians hostage, raped others, murdered yet others, and that had kicked off the Russian invasion. Meanwhile, back in reality…

I don’t condone the actions of the Israeli government but I can’t make the leap from that to excluding the country from Eurovision.

I don't agree OP. There is a difference between historical wrongs and today. The whole point of eurovision is to unite European counties and keep the past in the past. The problem really arose with disqualifying Russia and now displaying a double standard.

I also don't agree with the issue raised above by the terrorist attacks changing this. Ireland was allowed compete during the height of IRA attacks, using Israel's rationale the UK could have slaughtered Catholics in retaliation and still be allowed compete. An invasion is an invasion and very different from terrorism.

No I was just thinking of the hypocrisy of it all. I think what israel have done is awful.

But i think the hypicrisy of it all all is awful.

like why are people acting so horrified about israel and acting like what they have done is unusual, when so many other countries have carried out similar atrocities.

I mean we could say why is the UK allowed to enter Eurovsion when they committed atrocities and brutality in Ireland, took land from the people, and currently still own northern Ireland. When many people in Ireland want that land back. That situation is still ongoing today

We could also say why is Germany forgiven and allowed to enter when they caused such horrendous atrocities across Europe, hat still affect families to this day. My family ended up where they live now in europe because they had to flee nazi brutality..

We can't point just fingers at israel and not look all the other crimes and brutality that have happened

You said there is a difference between historical wrongs and today.

The situation with northern Ireland is still going on today.

Most of our world history has been dark and shameful.

The whole fucking point of Eurovision is that the countries have previously been at war with other and although no longer at war there may be latent disharmony that the song contest purports to override with its key message being peace.
If there's a potential aggressor country they don't belong.
Note how the UK has consistently been down voted for several years given we aren't exactly welcoming the world with open arms.
I'm pretty disgusted that Israel are permitted to still compete by the very nature that they are 'at war' with another country.

The reason people are so angry, and rightly so in my opinion is that Israel are currently commiting war crimes and massacring innocent people, probably while Eurovision was being aired. Absolutely disgusting that they were allowed to take part.
Additionally, the song they entered with was about the day of the Hamas attack, which although horrific, Israel have now killed over 35,000 mainly innocent people and children in retaliation. An absolute joke they were allowed near the competition

Aye, come on. I have also marched in support of Palestine, but I’m not daft enough to think that some (not the vast majority of people but certainly some) of the criticisms of Israel have not strayed into age old anti-Semitic tropes. There has been an undeniable increase in anti-Semitic hate crime.

A 20 year old contestant in a silly song competition under armed guard due to the country she represents?

If you were a military commander, and your job was to wipe out Hamas and their military capability, how would you do that without harming civilians?

YABU @Carly944. Eurovision has always been political.

Peace is political!

Eurovision entrants are those who are members of the EBU. The European Broadcasting Union. Nothing to do with EU. Anyone can apply (hence Us and Aus in previous contents)

Yeah but the point is , how can English people , including myself say that what israel has done is disgusting and awful

When the UK has invaded and committed genocide in so many countries ourselves.

Not too long ago either.

Have any other contestants been held ‘responsible’ for the actions of their govt in the same way as Israel? Eg the UK have been at the forefront of some pretty bloody military conflicts across the world but aside from no one giving us any points (but they don’t really ever anyway) has there ever been protests in the thousands over our entry?

Equally, it seems very much like people can't disagree with Israeli actions in Palestine without being accused of being antisemitic. Which is totally unfair.

When it comes to a country that has one of the most advanced military systems and intel in the world, so much to the point that they allegedly know Hamas are allegedly hiding in specific schools and hospitals, I’m sure they can find and target Hamas fighters without bombing thousand and thousands of innocent civilians in the process.

Yeah but the point is , how can English people , including myself say that what israel has done is disgusting and awful

It's the fact that they are doing it presently that is the problem.