I chose one of the countries I was going to vote for before I watched the final. Shock horror, eh! But nobody paid me to choose that country and nobody involved me in any conspiracy - I simply watched and listened to the songs on the Eurovision website. If I’d wanted to, I could also have bought the CD and listened to them all.
So, the fact people voted who didn’t watch the show is hardly evidence of high dudgeon. The country I chose wasn’t Israel BTW, but it could have been. I choose songs I like and would never vote for crap just because it was from a country I like. I hardly think I’m alone in that.
With all the publicity about the Israeli singer’s struggles, people will have been interested to see her and to hear the song. I also listened to the Sweden song online because I’d read about it and how it was tipped to be a winner. People can access the songs online before the final and online during the final. They do NOT have to watch the show to hear them.
In addition, I always find certain songs are pushed, either because of the artiste or because they’re spectacularly bizarre or tipped to win. There are numerous articles about them, and on the continent they play other countries songs on the radio sometimes because friends have said they’ve heard X song.
If the Israel song was utter rubbish, I could understand the suspicion, but it’s not. In fact, it’s very much of a type - that anthemic, simple melody, happy/hopeful lyrics that are popular at Eurovision. It’s hardly beyond the realms of possibility that many people voted for the song because they liked it.