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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Some unknown never to be heard of again. Yes we had Bucks Fizz and that spaaaaceman singer but that has been about it.

Who cares whether an Israeli person wins a pop singing competition. This demand for boycott is ridiculous and purely symbolic, another way of pointing the finger at ordinary Israelis. Just bigotry that wouldn’t be tolerated in any other way.

@HoneyParsnipSoup but I think that's the point. If ordinary civilians are innocent then the same logic applies everywhere and verifies that Israel are committing genocide. If ordinary civilians are complicit in what their country does, then the conflict is a war and the eurovision entrant is someone one who wants to kill Palestinians. Which is it? It's one or the other.

Just don’t watch it then. Some of us enjoy the competition and the songs. I am so sad about all the controversy. Really hope that Eurovision can survive this. Thank you to @RedToothBrush for all the background information. People are allowed to be interested and know things about niche subjects. I can’t believe you think it’s a good idea to come on here and sneer at people who take an interest and then discuss this with other people who are interested.

I didn’t say Israel aren’t committing genocide. Shall we boycott Palestinian goods because of October 7th? I don’t think we should, but that’s your logic? Hamas are their leaders after all?

If ordinary civilians are complicit, that makes all Gazans complicit, and in turn justifies their death in a war they started.

Yes this is what I think they should have used to expel them. They saidcthe difference between Israel and Rusdiazwas that Russia was using Eurovision for political purposes, so what is this? Its double standards and basically because of their sponsors which makes the whole thing a joke. Spain are one of the big 5 contributors too.

Exactly, and all Israelis are commiting genocide. Which is absolutely ridiculous logic. My point was it makes no sense that some people believe its OK to kill civilians of one race while claiming civilians in the other race are innocent. Specifically I'm referring to people who support killing gazans but are horrified over nasty words spoken to an Israeli singer.

AI isn’t credible - they think blokes are women!

If we accept civilians are complicit, Israel isn't actually doing anything wrong. They're killing legitimate targets. It's only if you think not all Gazans are legitimate targets that you have an issue at all with Israel, but in that case you can't blame all Israelis.

Just BTW Israeli is a nationality not a race. There are many Arab Israelis (almost 25% of the population).

The conflict has been going since the Jews were kicked out of Israel, then told to 'go back to Palestine' and subjected to genocide, and then bought back a small amount of their indigenous homeland to self-govern free from persecution. The majority of the Israeli population are Middle Eastern Jews who fled to Israel from the surrounding countries due to persecution, or were exiled there. And they are still subjected to constant attacks by a neighbouring country whose government has a written mandate to annihilate Israel at the Jewish people.

Israel is fighting a terrorist entity that merges with the civilian population. Egypt has harsher borders than Israel due to the known terrorist threat.

Yes. As I understand it, very simply put, the Israeli broadcaster are critical of Netanyahu and are fairly untouchable because of the popularity of Eurovision in Israel.

If Eurovision goes that makes the broadcaster much more vulnerable. And a broadcaster that tries to hold Netanyahu to account is surely a good thing.

Iceland is pulling out too.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjwy9n786n0o

And Nemo (Swiss winner in 2024) is handing back his trophy. It’s all going on.

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/dec/11/nemo-eurovision-winner-2024-hand-back-trophy-protest-israel-taking-part-2025

I was fully against Israel being in Eurovision until I read this. Its a pretty compelling reason. So if the other members of ebu know this what's the thinking behind still pulling out?

It’s a bit like other arts organisations boycotting Israeli artists without bothering to find out that most Israeli artists are pretty left-leaning and no fans of Netanyahu, but hey, let’s not bother finding out anything about them and boycott them anyway to show how righteous and brainless we are.

Or perhaps they're responding directly to the genocide as they think the broadcaster "being critical" of Netanyahu has achieved Jack shit? Fwiw I dont think the situation in Gaza and the West Bank is happening because Israelis are unaware what their leader is like.

The Spanish Broadcaster are in part doing it in solidarity with Spanish journalists who have been banned or restricted from reporting in Israel, citing the lack of free press on a wider level within the country, which is fair point in its own right.

However their decision potentially makes independent and free press on Israel even harder.

Other countries I believe are being swayed more by domestic opinion. The majority of Brits don't actually think Israel should be competing - how this breaks down into the opinion of actual viewers rather than the general population I don't know.

It needs to be noted that it's the Jerusalem Times that has been reporting on the threats to the press and how Eurovision is protecting it though. They are concerned.

I personally think it's less of an Israel problem and more of an EBU problem not being strict enough and strong enough to deal with Israel's propaganda and government interference issue tbh whilst simultaneously not supporting the artists from other countries in various ways. The whole Joost Klein Saga / total lack of contestant care in 2023 is where they went horribly wrong. There was unequal treatment of countries and a man who had specifically requested reasonable adjustments was treated appallingly because they were too busy tripping over themselves to support Israel and pander to security demands.

I still think this crisis is going to get worse before May though unfortunately. I suspect the Israeli government will take measures against KAN between now and then, and this will leave Israel in a position where it's technically no longer meeting EBU requirements and should be disqualified how they will be unable to do so for financial reasons because of the contract with Moroccanoil having this clause that they will only sponsor if Israel are participating. This will leave the EBU up shit creek but honestly this is a scenario which isn't remotely unpredictable and they've done nothing to protect themselves from.

I suspect a lot of the country delegation do have this in their minds in terms of their decision making and neutral stance so you may well see other countries saying this isn't getting better and they are now breaking the rules - especially if the televote still gets badly hijacked.

The way I see it, is Eurovision MUST find another sponsor for 2027 - it is it's best way out of the mess it's created as it's then less beholdent on Israel participating so can act more independently. The trouble being the controversy hanging over the contest makes it look unattractive to other potential sponsors. Israel has to be booted before a deal for 2027 is made for this reason - it needs to go for inability of the broadcaster to meet requirements rather than due to pressure from other members countries or a public backlash. It needs to be seen as a press issue. But the EBU are terrified about being left without a main sponsor so keep signing this, now rolling annual, sponsorship with Moroccanoil and that's ultimately where you problem lies.

I don't know where things go from here. I think Nemo doing that doesn't improve the situation. It's a becoming a death by a thousand cuts type situation.

The Israeli public is largely split straight down the middle with about 50% being supportive and 50% being very against it. Don't think there isn't widespread opposition within Israel. Think along the lines of Brexit or the US Trump / anti Trump divides and democratic process. If you believe in democracy but are against Netanyhu you are in a difficult position and Netanyhu is trying to undermine democratic process because he's desperate to cling to power.

There are fracture points - those who support it are more likely to be Orthodox and there are certain exemptions to military service for orthodox reasons. Netanyhu is facing a crisis as these exemptions are becoming increasingly controversial and unsustainable politically for him. He's trying to kill the exemption which means a lot of his core supporters are up in arms about this. But he can't maintain his position without increasing who is eligible for service and placating others who do service in terms of what is seen as 'fair'.

It does mean we potentially are at a point where it's unsustainable for Netanyhu to continue as he has - which is part of the reason he's looking for other avenues to maintain control.

Much of the reason for the conflict in the first place comes from Netanyhu wanting to maintain power and understanding that his electoral support comes from the hard-line religion right - who are also the most likely not to serve. The toll of the war is adding up and Netanyhu can't maintain the security he needs without increasing conscription. He has something of a demographic crisis as the birth rate for orthodox Jews is much higher too but that also means a smaller percentage willing to serve but wanting greater security.

It's a paradox he will eventually lose and one that threatens a wafer thin majority he has at the ballot box.

Understand this and it makes more sense too.