{"id":448784,"date":"2026-05-14T16:55:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/448784\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:55:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:55:53","slug":"eurovision-prominent-bars-join-tv-boycott-as-jewish-council-criticises-rte-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/448784\/","title":{"rendered":"Eurovision: prominent bars join TV boycott as Jewish Council criticises RT\u00c9 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The decision by RT\u00c9<\/a> not to participate in or broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest<\/a> over Israel\u2019s attendance has made it \u201cmuch easier for everyone to ignore it\u201d, according to one of the first people in Ireland to publicly boycott the competition<\/a>. <\/p>\n

However, a critic of the boycott has questioned whether it reflected \u201cbroad editorial principle\u201d or pressure from a \u201crelatively small but highly vocal activist constituency\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the third year we haven\u2019t screened it,\u201d said Rory O\u2019Neill, the owner of PantiBar on Dublin\u2019s Capel Street. <\/p>\n

Other venues that used to routinely screen the contest, including the George, which celebrates its 40th birthday this weekend<\/a>, have also pulled the plug. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill, who performs under the stage name Panti Bliss<\/a>, said the first year \u201cit was a big decision because as everybody knows, the gays love a little bit of Eurovision and we always used to make a big deal of the night. We\u2019d fully decorate the place and have special guests. It was one of the busiest and most popular fun nights of the whole year after Pride and St Patrick\u2019s Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The business owner and performer said that in good conscience he could not allow his bar to take part, given the scale of civilian deaths in Gaza<\/a> at the time, and while some of his customers grumbled about the call, most people understood the reason. <\/p>\n

\u201cLast year everyone was fully on board, and this year we\u2019re not getting any complaining as I think people understand, and it has become so much easier for everyone to ignore it this year because of RT\u00c9 not taking part.\u201d <\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill said PantiBar\u2019s decision to stop screening the contest was validated by what he described as a \u201cdeliberate and obvious\u201d attempt by Israel to \u201cuse the song contest as a propaganda tool<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the public vote had been manipulated last year to create the impression more people across Europe supported the country \u2013 a widespread belief that forced Eurovision organisers to change the rules to give less weight to phone-in votes.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Eurovision 2026: From boycotts to media blackouts, this is now a spectacle under pressureOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want that to be the narrative: \u2018Look how well Israel does every year, people love Israel,\u2019\u201d O\u2019Neill said. <\/p>\n

The chairman of the Irish Jewish Council<\/a>, Maurice Cohen, had a different perspective. He said it was legitimate to ask if RT\u00c9\u2019s position was down to \u201cbroad editorial principle, or does it reflect pressure from a relatively small but highly vocal activist constituency, both internally and externally?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JewishJewish Representative Council of Ireland (JRCI) chairman Maurice Cohen. Photograph: JRCI <\/p>\n

He said what concerned \u201cmany in the Jewish community is not any single incident in isolation, but the cumulative effect of repeatedly singling out Israel across cultural, political and public discourse\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever one\u2019s views on the current conflict, when Israel alone is subjected to exceptional treatment, many Jews understandably experience that not as neutral policy criticism, but as part of a broader atmosphere of hostility and demonisation.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted history had made \u201cJewish communities especially alert to moments when political rhetoric moves beyond criticism of a government into a climate of sustained moral vilification. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo historical comparison is ever exact, but Europe has seen, on many occasions, where relentless demonisation, exclusion, and the normalisation of hostility toward Jews can lead. That history inevitably informs present anxieties.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Israel through to Eurovision final after shouts of \u2018stop the genocide\u2019 during songOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He said he was \u201cnot persuaded that symbolic gestures such as this improve the lives of Israelis, Palestinians, or anyone affected by this tragic conflict. They may generate headlines or satisfy activist demands, but they do not bring peace closer\u201d.<\/p>\n

He suggested Ireland has, \u201cat its best, a reputation for diplomacy, conflict resolution, and moral persuasion. If Ireland wishes to play any constructive role in encouraging peace, dialogue, or mediation in the region, it must be seen as an honest and credible interlocutor rather than having predetermined allegiances. Actions of this kind risk undermining that perception.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cohen said in \u201can ideal world, cultural events should be spaces that bring people together rather than become further battlegrounds for political confrontation. <\/p>\n

\u201cEurovision has certainly long had political undercurrents, but actively deepening that politicisation seems unlikely to serve anyone well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The decision by RT\u00c9 not to participate in or broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest over Israel\u2019s attendance has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,17948,3409,61,60,3410,6085],"class_list":["post-448784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-eurovision","tag-gaza-strip","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-israel","tag-rte"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}