Eurovision Israel

[Daysgo]

Think Spain, Norway, Ireland etc are right to not take part in Eurovision as Israel are allowed to take part . Russia was banned due to murdering innocent civilians in Ukraine. But apparently it's ok for Israel to do the same and murder Palestinian children... I do not know what kind of world we are living in

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Yanbu x

Israel are doing wrong, and it is horrible that normal Jewish singers have to also suffer the consequences of Israel's actions, but what else can be done.

My love and solidarity to those suffering the consequences of Israels actions, regardless of whether they are Jewish or Palestinian ❤️

I fully agree with you. Every credible organisation, from the UN to Amnesty International, agrees they are committing genocide.

I believe they did something with the voting to get themselves more votes?

I think the contest will, in the end, be a complete and utter disaster and may now no longer end up going ahead for a variety of reasons.

The non participants so far are Spain (big five), Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia with Iceland likely to withdraw next week.

Belgium are wavering - it gets hosted by different broadcaster each year (for language reasons). The one who hosted it last year isn't happy but supports the decision of the other broadcaster. So it's not clear exactly what will happen long term there.

Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark all voted for the changes ( if they accepted the changes, it would mean there wouldn't be a vote on Israel's participation). This means all four are likely to compete.

Finland has since confirmed this.

The UK stressed they wanted the contest to remain politically neutral.

A delegation from Kosovo (who aren't recognised as an independent country by Serbia) were at the meeting, which is interesting in its own right as they've been saying for some time they want to join. (Because it effectively legitimises them).

The risk for Eurovision here, is if too many countries pull out, the semi finals become pointless which creates an issue with planning and viability (Eurovision is struggling financially - and likely dependant on it's main sponsor, Moroccanoil who are Israeli. It's debatable whether they could find another sponsorship deal as good, so in some ways they are fucked either way).

Tbh having been in 2024 and witnessed first hand what the atmosphere and tension was like, I won't be going again until this is adequately resolved. It's undermines the whole contest and the idea you can pretend it doesn't is ridiculous.

I am neither pro Israel nor probably Palestinian. I am a Eurovision fan and frankly this whole thing is going to kill the contest.

Surely if they are guilty of unfair voting practices and the Israeli government influencing it then they need to be expelled? I can imagine any other country being banned for this.

I think it's the right decision.
Edit: I mean the decision to boycott.

Good for them. I hope more countries pull out.

They were within the rules as they stood last year.

Part of the reason they've been changed is because it was felt that the Israeli government was undermining the voting system for political gain.

The chances make sense and should help tbh, but I still think we may see issues.

Totally agree with you op!

The world where last year, mobs went to demonstrate in front of the hotel where the Israeli candidate was staying to harass, threaten and intimidate a private individual, a civilian who has no role or responsibility in this war and whose only crime is to be Israeli ?

There was an Israeli embassy available if people wanted to express their valid anger at the actions of the Israeli government, but no, they went for random people, only based on their identity, an Israeli passport was enough to make them the victims of harassment.

I would respect an official boycott more than the rancid, racist, antisemitic mobbing of last year.

If that's the level of decency of the Eurovision fans, it can disappear for all I care.

I don't understand. Israel is not in Europe, why are they in Eurovision?

I think Russia was expelled specifically because they invaded another contestant, which doesn't apply to Israel, Russia literally couldn't be in the same room as the Ukrainians. Not defending Israel in any way but that's why the two aren't directly comparable.

It's a disaster for the competition tbh, so many countries will pull out either way and I expect the standard of songs will be a lot lower because it's tainted. Also the Israeli government's actions re Eurovision last year were shitty too.

I've always loved Eurovision but last year's atmosphere really left a bad taste in the mouth. It wasn't the normal joyous occasion.

I think the UK should have the guts to boycott the whole thing like Ireland is doing. (Although given the kicking the BBC has been getting over other issues lately, they are probably nervous to take a controversial stand on anything).

As things stand, I certainly won't be watching any more.

Yanbu.

Yes but Israel is to be pandered to at all times, otherwise you’re antisemitic 🙄

Portugal has confirmed they will participate.

They have been one of the countries unhappy in the past. I'm slightly surprised tbh.

The official fan club had to close down it's Facebook groups this year because of the amount of problems they were having over the subject. They simply were unable to continue to moderate it.

So it's had a massive impact on the community and lead to it splitting up. A lot of people had made friends through it over the years. I wasn't a member but a friend was gutted by this.

So yeah this isn't going away anytime soon.

Russia wasn't banned in 2022 due to murdering Ukrainian civilians; they basically banned themselves. Eurovision contestant countries must either be members of the Council of Europe OR participate through a national broadcaster who is an EBU (European Broadcasting Union) member in good standing. (This second path is how countries like Israel and Australia can compete.)

In 2022, in response to ongoing Russian broadcasting violations dating back to 2014, the EBU censured Russian EBU members VGTRK and Channel One but said that a Russian entry could still participate as Russia had other EBU member media outlets. A few days later, after the February 2022 invasion it was announced that Russia could not participate - which appears to have been a misunderstanding of the rules and did not even come from the proper Eurovision decision-makers.

Russia wasn't banned or censured or given any consequences by Eurovision when it invaded Georgia in 2008 - in fact, the contest was held in Moscow in 2009 - nor when it annexed Crimea in 2014. (It was actually concern over the booing of the Russian contestants at the 2014 competition that led to Eurovision's addition of anti-booing technology). But for some reason, rather than investigating and if necessary challenging its supposed ban in 2022, all remaining Russian members quit the EBU. Russia then was no longer eligible to participate as they were then neither an EBU nor a Council of Europe member.

The protests and threats against the Israeli singer was why everyone voted for her (including me!). She survived the Nova festival massacre and managed to rise above all the hatred directed towards her. Clearly many people felt the same as she won the public vote.

I will vote for any Israeli contestants multiple times once again this year, as they will also be having to face up to all the haters.

Why don't you just vote for how good they sing rather than any political stuff? This is one of the reasons I don't watch Eurovision anymore.

Regardless of the reasons for boycotts, it’s farcical to hold a European contest which major European countries pull out of to accommodate a Middle Eastern country.

It's a song contest, not a popularity contest.

Their song was absolute bobbins and I was shocked they got so many votes.

Slow hand clap for people like you who are ruining the spirit of the contest.

Forget the politics, just say Eurovision is for European countries which seems logical.

Eurovision has brought this on themselves. Once they banned Russia they set up an expectation that they'll ban anyone else as long as enough people demand it.

Why don't you just vote for how good they sing rather than any political stuff? This is one of the reasons I don't watch Eurovision anymore

Well, precisely. As an actual music lover, I understand that there are now thousands of other songs, artists out there that will obliterate anything seen on EV.

It’s just a ceremony of pomp, camp, glamour and now politics too.

But not actually about music is it. Not like the glory years where you actually had a global hit win the thing.