{"id":145931,"date":"2025-09-15T22:14:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T22:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/145931\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T22:14:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T22:14:07","slug":"israeli-broadcaster-vows-to-stay-in-eurovision-despite-mounting-boycott-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/145931\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli broadcaster vows to stay in Eurovision despite mounting boycott threats"},"content":{"rendered":"

The head of Israel\u2019s public broadcaster pushed back Monday against calls to exclude Israel from next year\u2019s Eurovision Song Contest, after several countries threatened to boycott the competition if Israel takes part.<\/p>\n

Golan Yochpaz, CEO of Kan Public Broadcasting Corporation, addressed the controversy for the first time during the launch of the broadcaster\u2019s new programming schedule in Tel Aviv. \u201cSince the corporation was established, Israel has been one of the most successful participants in Eurovision,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is no reason Israel should not continue to be a significant part of this cultural event, which must never under any circumstances become political.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05d9\u05d5\u05d1\u05dc<\/a>\"\u05d9\u05d5\u05d1\u05dc<\/p>\n

Yuval Raphael performs for Israel during the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 <\/p>\n

(Photo: Gil Nechushtan)<\/p>\n

The dispute has escalated in recent weeks. The Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia have formally declared they would withdraw if Israel competes<\/a>, while Spain\u2019s culture minister also urged a boycott if Israel participates.On Sunday, Ynet revealed details of an informal proposal said to have been floated to Israeli officials<\/a>: that Israel step aside for a year, or alternatively, appear under a neutral flag while Kan issued a statement distancing itself from government and military actions. The suggestion, according to those behind it, could defuse the crisis.<\/p>\n

Israeli officials said no such proposal has been formally received, and Kan dismissed the idea. The European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the contest, also distanced itself, saying it had not put forward any such arrangement.<\/p>\n

Israel has competed in Eurovision since 1973, winning the contest four times, most recently in 2018 with Netta Barzilai\u2019s Toy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The head of Israel\u2019s public broadcaster pushed back Monday against calls to exclude Israel from next year\u2019s Eurovision…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-145931","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}