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Singer Yuval Raphael, from Israel, holds the national flag during a dress rehearsal for the Grand Final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, May 16, 2025, in Basel, Switzerland. [AP]<\/p>\n
Public broadcasters in Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and Slovenia on Thursday pulled out of next year\u2019s Eurovision Song Contest after organizers decided to allow Israel to compete, putting political discord on center stage over a usually joyful celebration of music.<\/p>\n
The walkouts came after the general assembly of the European Broadcasting Union \u2013 a group of public broadcasters from 56 countries that runs the glitzy annual event \u2013 met to discuss concerns about Israel\u2019s participation, which some countries oppose over its conduct of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.<\/p>\n
At the meeting, EBU members voted to adopt tougher contest voting rules in response to allegations that Israel manipulated the vote in favor of their contestants, but took no action to exclude any broadcaster from the competition.<\/p>\n
The feel-good pop music gala that draws more than 100 million viewers every year has been roiled by the war in Gaza for the past two years, stirring protests outside the venues and forcing organizers to clamp down on political flag-waving.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a historic moment for the European Broadcasting Union. This is certainly one of the most serious crises that the organization has ever faced,\u201d said Eurovision expert Dean Vuletic. \u201cNext year, we\u2019re going to see the biggest political boycott of Eurovision ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vuletic, author of \u201cPostwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest,\u201d predicted \u201ctense\u201d weeks and months ahead as other countries contemplate joining the walkout and protests set to overshadow the contest\u2019s 70th anniversary in Vienna next May.<\/p>\n
A report on the website of Icelandic broadcaster RUV said its chiefs would meet next Wednesday to discuss whether Iceland would take part: Its board last week recommended that Israel be barred from the event in the Austrian capital.<\/p>\n
The broadcasting union said it was aware that four broadcasters \u2013 RTVE in Spain, AVROTROS in the Netherlands, RT\u00c9 in Ireland and Slovenia\u2019s RTVSLO \u2013 had publicly said they would not take part.<\/p>\n
A final list of participating countries will be announced by Christmas, EBU said.<\/p>\n
Controversy over Israel<\/p>\n
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on social platform X that he was \u201cpleased\u201d Israel will again take part, and hoped \u201cthe competition will remain one that champions culture, music, friendship between nations and cross-border cultural understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you to all our friends who stood up for Israel\u2019s right to continue to contribute and compete at Eurovision,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Austria, which is set to host the competition after Viennese singer JJ won this year with \u201cWasted Love,\u201d supported Israel\u2019s participation. Germany, too, supported Israel along with countries like Switzerland and Luxembourg, Vuletic said.<\/p>\n
AVROTROS, the Dutch broadcaster, said the participation of Israel \u201cis no longer compatible with the responsibility we bear as a public broadcaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spain\u2019s RTVE said the situation in Gaza \u2013 despite the recent ceasefire \u2013 and \u201cIsrael\u2019s use of the contest for political purposes, make it increasingly difficult to maintain Eurovision as a neutral cultural event.\u201d<\/p>\n
RT\u00c9 said Ireland\u2019s participation \u201cremains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza\u201d and the humanitarian crisis there.<\/p>\n
Some broadcasters \u2013 which run their country\u2019s news programs and wanted Israel kept out \u2013 cited killings of journalists in the conflict in Gaza and Israel\u2019s continued policy of denying international journalists access to the territory.<\/p>\n
Israeli broadcaster KAN\u2019s chief executive Golan Yochpaz questioned whether EBU members are \u201cwilling to be part of a step that harms freedom of creation and freedom of expression.\u201d<\/p>\n
KAN officials said the Israeli broadcaster was not involved in any prohibited campaign intended to influence the results of the latest song contest in Basel, Switzerland last May \u2013 when Israel\u2019s Yuval Raphael placed second.<\/p>\n
Divided over politics<\/p>\n
The contest pits acts from dozens of nations against one another for Europe\u2019s musical crown. It strives to put pop before politics, but has repeatedly been embroiled in world events. Russia was expelled in 2022 after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The war in Gaza has been its biggest challenge, with pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrating against Israel outside the last two Eurovision contests in Basel, Switzerland, in May and Malmo, Sweden, in 2024.<\/p>\n
Opponents of Israel\u2019s participation cite the war in Gaza, which has left more than 70,000 people dead, according to the territory\u2019s Health Ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government and whose detailed records are viewed as generally reliable by the international community.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s government has repeatedly defended its campaign as a response to the attack by Hamas-led militants that started the war on Oct. 7, 2023. The militants killed around 1,200 people \u2013 mostly civilians \u2013 in the attack and took 251 hostage.<\/p>\n
A number of experts, including those commissioned by a UN body, have said that Israel\u2019s offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide, a claim that Israel \u2013 home to many Holocaust survivors and their relatives \u2013 has vigorously denied.<\/p>\n
A boycott by some European broadcasters could have implications for viewership and money at a time when many broadcasters are under financial pressure from government funding cuts and the advent of social media.<\/p>\n
The pullouts include some big names in the Eurovision world. Spain is one of the \u201cBig Five\u201d large-market countries that contribute the most to the contest. Ireland has won seven times, a record it shares with Sweden.<\/p>\n
The controversy over Israel\u2019s 2026 participation also threatens to overshadow the return next year of three countries \u2013 Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania \u2013 after periods of absence because of financial and artistic reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cNext year\u2019s edition is certainly going to be one of the most politicized ever,\u201d Vuletic said. \u201cIt\u2019s the 70th anniversary. It was meant to be a big celebration, a big party, but it\u2019s going to be shrouded in political controversy yet again.\u201d [AP]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Singer Yuval Raphael, from Israel, holds the national flag during a dress rehearsal for the Grand Final of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,2331,26787,134,30451,53891,6897,84,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-329172","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-culture","11":"tag-diplomacy","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-eurovision","14":"tag-foreign-affairs","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329172","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=329172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}