Eurovision - was the jury vote impacted by politics?

[mids2019]

So Israel massively won the public vote but with relatively few jury votes.....strange.

Was the jury possibly trying to prevent Israel beating Austria as an Israel won would maybe have got the Eurovsion organisers in a tight spot?

Brilliant song and it shows the general public aren't automatons swayed by politics when it comes to music and acknowledging a brilliant human back story.

Is there a reason you're unable to spell 'Israel'? For a country you seem to have such a strong interest in, you'd think you'd be able to spell it correctly.

@SisterTeatime
this is an example of some who support Israel will never see wrong in what Israel does! Not a conspiracy to point this out.

It's war not genocide. Are you suggesting something else?

…because the same level of effort isn’t put into bringing other international crisis to the attention of the world.

I’m sure you’ll be familiar with the long list of places currently experiencing famine & genocide?

She survived an appalling attack and her song was by far the superior but carry on denying the truth of who is equally causing the atrocities

I agree ICJ that the way the war is being conducted does make genocide plausible concern. Now some are also concerned about ethic cleansing.

Please now let me know your thoughts - do you have ANY criticisms about the IDF’s conduct in Gaza or the WB?

the United Nations opinion

The same UN that says men can become women?! As a moral authority they’ve completely debased themselves in recent years. Unable (or unwilling) to prevent actual genocide in China, illegal invasion of Iraq, total subjugation of women in Afghanistan, but perfectly happy to cheerlead for Hamas-run Gaza? Screw them entirely.

As an aside, anyone deliberately misspelling Israel as “Isreal” is engaging in such childish behaviour that their opinions carry the same weight as the average toddler.

That spelling is rife isn’t it.

Whilst there’s no denying this young woman has been through a terrible ordeal, I don’t think it’s shameful that it wasn’t mentioned. This is a song contest. The points should be awarded for the song, nothing else.

But regardless, Eurovision has always been political so the points handed out are always a pharce. The judges votes (based on the merit of the song) saw many countries (such as the UK) doing well. As soon as the audience vote is taken into account it’s ‘nil point’ to the countries that are hated (the UK!) and lots of points to the ‘popular’ countries, which was Ukraine a couple of years ago and now Israel. Both for obvious reasons. But let’s not pretend the points reflected what anyone thought about the songs.

I also don’t believe claims of famine and starvation. The same claims were made a year ago then the supporters had to quieten down when we all saw with our own eyes completely well-fed men with guns harassing hostages during the release phase. I’m not going to be tricked a second time.

I don’t agree. And I don’t see unequivocal support for every single action the Israeli government or the IDF take.

I seriously suggest that you read up a little on the history of the persecution of Jews, and learn about antisemitism. It may make no difference at all to your views on the current conflict, but you’d be more conscious of the context of some very tenacious ideas and themes around Israel and Jewish people.

What a brave young lady singing a great song, well done her.

However she won the public vote because The Silent Majority had a way to speak in voting which they can’t do in real life without threat to them or those they care about. What a world we live in.

That's your interpretation. Joan Donoghue ICJ president at the time of the ruling rebutted this interpretation.
I have many thoughts about the situation in Gaza and the conduct of soldiers. It is a luxury for those not on the battlefield to second guess those that are. I have compassion for innocents on both sides.

You are right that most of us will see this as external bystanders. But if you see this from the outside - it’s pretty clear the situation in Gaza is increasingly untenable and it’s one group of people who are particularly suffering.

I don’t think obeying international law with regard to conduct of war should be a luxury.

Going back to purpose of thread, I can see why people who support Israel get out and vote for them in Eurovision when they feel the butt of such negativity towards Israel.

I think so too. And the list of countries that supported her was good to see.

If he hadn't mentioned the controversy, I'd agree. Wouldn't have been shameful to leave out that she survived a pogrom then. But if you're going to talk about issues beyond the music, as Graham did, then the BBC coverage shouldn't cherry pick. It needs to be one or the other.

Yes. Something that Hamas could potentially stop by not blocking aid, by scrapping the Hamas charter, by releasing all hostages etc.
If Hamas actually were a diplomatic government people would view Israel as the enemy. You know, like people err towards Ukraine as the good guys regardless of the nitty gritty politics. Good v bad.
If Hamas actually had the welfare of it’s citizens at heart it would be something to support, unfortunately Hamas don’t seem to give a shit.

I think this shows people are not fools and don't necessarily take the line the media feeds them.

Although not mentioned by the BBC people were well aware of the incredible back story. It should not have been a surprise that such an incredibly moving back story coupled with a good song got votes ......

It also was a bit of finger up to the heartless demonstrators imo.

I am in the US and follow several Holocaust education sites online.

For the last two weeks I've seen several ads every day I go on SM (various platforms) urging me to vote for Israel's entry.

Frankly, I've never seen anything like this before, and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

So if your question is about politics influencing the voting, and if you want an evidence based answer, I'd have to say - wait until I see a breakdown of where the public votes came from around the world.

I'd also like to see who paid for the ads I was seeing and how much was paid.

@mids2019

I seriously doubt a backstory appeals to Europeans as much as you think it does.

That's very much an American cultural thing.

Are you British and based in Britain?

The themes you touch on in your posts here suggest otherwise.

Why do UK shows like the X factor always explore back stories then?

I don't think that this is rocket science. If you like Israel you are going to vote for Israel. If you think Israels actions are a disgrace to humanity you will either boycott or vote for any of the other I don't know how many acts so those votes are spread out.

Palestinians don't get to have their own country and self determination so they don't get to enter fun little singing and dancing competitions, they are too busy dodging bombs, living under apartheid and trying not to get raped at Israeli checkpoints so it's not like it's was a vote for Palestine vs vote for Israel thing.

Because they are influenced by American tropes. The exploration of the 'backstory' is on steroids in American TV shows - what's done in the UK pales by comparison. And no show is immune, from the Olympics to cooking competitions.

Not really hard to understand when you put it like that. Who needs a statistician to explain.

Yes Britain is influenced by America and lots of our shows now also cover the contestants back story so it does appeal to our audiences too.