As we already know, “Everybody Dance” is the guiding concept for this year’s Eurovision postcards — the introductory segments that air just before each act performs. This year each participant will dance in one of Israel’s stunning landscapes accompanied by professional dancers. These are being filmed as we speak, as more and more delegations arrive in Israel for their shoot.
But according to Walla!, one of Israel’s leading news portals, some parts of Israel will not be included in the postcards. We’re speaking of sites which are in the occupied territories — or “disputed territories” as they are referred to in Israel.
First, a brief history lesson. Since the Six Days War — fought by Israel on one side and Egypt, Jordan and Syria on the other — Israel has controlled the West Bank and East Jerusalem. These territories are considered occupied Palestinian territories under international law (or “disputed” territories, under Israeli law).
During the 1990s, Israel and the Palestinians agreed that the final status of these territories will be resolved in negotiations but no peace treaty has been signed yet. So these areas are still controlled by Israel. Another — the Gaza Strip — has been under Palestinian control since 2005 (though Israel is still thought to control its borders, airspace and coast).
Curiously, it was KAN that decided to exclude these territories from the postcards. That’s surprising because KAN is a public organ of the state.
One explanation is that KAN is following the EBU’s rules — namely, to avoid any political references. The other is that KAN is exacting “revenge” against the Israeli government over the many disputes the two have had since Israel’s victory at Eurovision 2018 last May. These include a high-profile spat between KAN officials and some right-wing politicians, who wanted to control the content of the broadcaster. And then there was the whole drama over who would pay for the contest itself.
KAN’s decision has once again drawn the attention of Mrs. Miri Regev, the Israeli Culture and Sport minister. Speaking to Srugim, a website for the religious sector, she criticized KAN and advised them to reconsider their selection and to include locations from the said areas.
“This is an unfortunate decision. The West Bank [in Hebrew: Judea and Samaria] forms an integral part of Israel and I will not allow this”.
But despite Regev’s threats, it is unlikely that KAN’s decision will be challenged. Since Tel Aviv has been declared host city, politicians have refrained from interfering with the production, probably because the EBU has backed KAN — but also because of their discontent that Jerusalem lost the race of host city to Tel Aviv back in September. KAN’s official response to Walla! is that their decision is purely professional.
“The postcards play an important role as regards Israel’s tourism industry. The choice of the locations aims to give [millions of] viewers a glance of the country’s landscape. Eurovision is by no means a political event and this also includes the choice of locations, which is purely artistic”.
There is, however, one exception. Israel’s representative, Kobi Marimi, will be filmed at the Western Wall, which is located at the very core of East Jerusalem just below Al-Aqsa temple — the third holiest place for Muslims.
Eurovision 2019 postcard locations
The filming of the postcards started in early March and is ongoing. According to Walla!, the following delegations have already completed their shoot.
1. France – Bilal Hassani: Tel Aviv Museum of Art
2. Spain – Miki Núñez: HaKarmelit — Israel’s first underground in Haifa
3. Georgia – Oto Nemsadze: The Old City of Acre
4. The UK – Michael Rice: The Bahai Gardens in Haifa
5. San Marino – Serhat: A solar energy field in the Negev
6. Belgium –Eliot: The Ramon Crater in the Negev
7. Czech Republic – Lake Malawi: The Old City of Caesarea
8. Cyprus – Tamta: The City of Eilat
9. Ireland – Sarah McTernan: Kibutz Eilot
10. The Netherlands – Duncan Laurence: Mount Arbel in the Galilee
11. Switzerland – Luca Hänni: Tel Aviv – HaBima National Theatre
It is also rumoured that more artists have already filmed their postcards in the following locations. Judging from their various Insta accounts, the rumours do seem to mirror reality.
12. Russia – Sergey Lazarev: Jerusalem
13. Portugal – Conan Osiris: The Dead Sea
14. Finland – Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman – Over the roof of Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv
15. Norway – KEiiNO – the Judea Desert
What do you think about KAN’s decision? Would you have preferred that they include the disputed territories? Share your thoughts in the comments’ sections.
I agree with this choice, KAN is dealing with it very well. Not everyone agrees with what Miri Regev said “The West Bank forms an integral part of Israel”, they have to respect other people’s opinions (at least that’s what I think). I hope all the contestants will enjoy the places they are going to visit 🙂
Very wise decision by KAN.
All quite interesting. However, please can someone attempt to answer the obvious question?:
Why was Kobi seemingly given an exception to the rules? (I’m obviously missing something .)
The western wall (the location in which Kobi will shoot his postcard) is the most sacred place to Judaism and is considered one of Israel’s main Jewish landmarks. As a result, it seems pretty fitting that as a Jewish representative of Israel as the host country he will shoot his postcard over there.
Thank you for explaining. 🙂
YES – You are MISSING history. It’s the remaining of the wall that was part of the complex of the Temple Mount (Remember Jesus that used to go there ??.) It was destroyed during Roman’s empire occupation of the Kingdom of Judea. This Temple was the second Temple of the Jew. The first was destroyed before it and was located exactly on the same spot.
Thank you Maya. Obviously I don’t actually remember Jesus, since I am not 2,000+ years old. 😀 But I also don’t remember the history either though, so thanks for filling that in.
WRONG – The holiest place for Jews is the Temple Mount. From Wiki : “According to the Bible, the Jewish Temples stood on the Temple Mount.[4][not in citation given] According to Jewish tradition and scripture,[5] the First Temple was built by King Solomon the son of King David in 957 BCE and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE – however no substantial archaeological evidence has verified this.[6] The second was constructed under the auspices of Zerubbabel in 516 BCE and destroyed by the Roman Empire in 70 CE. Jewish tradition maintains it is here that a third and final… Read more »
There was never any rules against filming in the old city of Jerusalem in the first place (what some people insist on calling “East Jerusalem)! The EBU already declared they have no problem with filming there, as the city today is no longer divided into East and West, and it is an Israeli city under Israeli sovereignty. The only rule they had was not filming in the West Bank, which is where most of the disputed/conflict areas are.
Huge respect to KAN! I am very much looking forward to these postcards, the concept seems very interesting.
If I’m not mistaken Romania’s Ester shot already shot her postcard in mount Hermon and Malta’s Michela shot hers in Timna Park (which is one of the most photogenic sites in Israel IMO).
By the way – Here are some Hebrew names WITH MEANINGS IN THE HEBREW LANGUAGE !!! : Jerusalem = United Heritage (to the descendants of King David who built the city), Jordan (= Dan is a Hebrew tribe that was located in the north part of the river), Beit Lechem= The house of bread (what we call today – Bakery) etc etc. and so on and so on…..Hebrew everywhere – So – Who is the occupier here ????? By the way, You can easily check it in google translate – YERUSHA=heritage SHALEM=united, unbroken YERUSHALEM is the Hebrew name of Jerusalem… Read more »
So, uh…supposing those all have names with significance in Arabic too? Almost as though it’s a site with important religious significance to multiple religions? Just spitballing here.
Jews have lived in the Land of Israel (All of it, including and mostly in Judea & Samaria) throughout all the History, since the Bible time and consistently. How can it possibly be” Occupied” by the Jews??? Is London occupied by the British ?? Is Paris Occupied by the French people ??? What are you talking about? No one can occupy his own land. The only occupiers here are the Arabs (soon in London & Paris as well).
Occupied ???? Really ???? – Watch to understand how much fake news you consume… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGYxLWUKwWo
FAKE NEWS. Jerusalem is the Jewish capital for more than 3000 years. Jordan illegally occupied half of it from 1948-1967 (only 19 years out of 3000 ) while the Muslims killed the Jews who lived there long before any Arab came to our area – That’s how part of the city became “Occupied” by the Jews. Ridiculous !!!! LEARN HISTORY FOR GOD SAKE
So Much Jewish “Occupation”. – one example of many !!!!https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gush_Etzion
Write about ZENA’s homophobic producer!
You have already raised this matter in another post, and some of us have discussed it at suitable length. Raising it again won’t add any detail, unless you have additional information to share that you haven’t already shared?
oh god, stop pls
i don’t care, and i will continue to personally like Zena’s song
I wonder if the locations of the shoots have anything to do with who the broadcaster think will do well. Having Sergey Lazarev in Jerusalem is a sure way of guaranteeing Jerusalem will be shown in the final. Having Oto Nemsadze (Georgia) in The Old City of Acre is interesting, but it will be more interesting to see who will get the Old City of Jaffa, that one has to be in the final.
Or maybe i’m reading too much into it. 🙂
Anyways i’m sure it’ll be beautiful!
I’ve been wondering how they organize that too, since Vienna’s year (my favourite tv series growing up was set in there and I know I would have asked for do something related to it). I wonder if they give the delegations list and they choose or if as you said, they give the best or most picturesque places to the artist they think are going to have the best results.
I guess it’s partly based on the participant’s song character and partly on who are the favorites. Having tamta shoot in party city eilat seems like a logical choice. I wonder where hatari will shoot their postcard.
The Dead Sea, I can imagine. 🙂
Honestly, by saying that Kobi will shoot his postcard in the western wall, you understand what you said before about the fact the western wall is forbidden to be shot is fake news, right?
Because it’s all FAKE NEWS. Jerusalem is the Jewish capital for more than 3000 years. Jordan illegally occupied half of it from 1948-1967 (only 19 years out of 3000 ) while the Muslims killed the Jews who lived there long before any Arab came to our area – That’s how part of the city became “Occupied” by the Jews. Ridiculous
!!!! LEARN HISTORY FOR GOD
SAKE
Occupied ???? Really ???? – Watch to understand how much fake news you consume… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGYxLWUKwWo
So Much Jewish “Occupation”. – one example of many !!!!https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gush_Etzion
This is not the place to talk about this. Please avoid it
It’s the “Dead Sea” in English 🙂
I think you’re missing a few acts:
1) Lake Malawi; 2) Sbruk; 3) Micaela Pace (Timna Park – I think); 4) Joci Papai; 5) Roko Blaževi?; 6) Tamara Todevska; 7) D-Moll; 8) Ester Peony.
And Lithuania’s Juri is coming in on Apr. 1st
Miri Regev has no power to allow or not allow it. As minister of culture, esc is not even under her jurisdiction, as she was reminded time and again.
I think it was a smart idea. Looking forward to this comment section.
Those territories are not part of Israel under international law. Who had the bright idea to make an issue out of the obvious?
LEARN THE INTERNATIONAL LAW BEFORE YOU TALK NONSENSE – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R1RCP-EWpo
Make Judea ISRAEL Again!
Hebrew Lives Matter!
There’s no such thing as “East Jerusalem”!!!! Throughout it’s history of over 4000 years, Jerusalem has been divided only for 19 years because of wars! 19 years out of 4000 years of history!!! So why would you insist on dividing it again??? Since Israel captured the city back and reunified it, it hasn’t been divided and won’t be ever again. The EBU said they have no problem with the Israelis filming there already, and they will. You will see it in the Russian entry and the Israeli entry. In regards to the West Bank, why would the Israelis film there… Read more »
And there was no such thing as Israel before either. Before, it was Canaan before it was invaded by Israelites. Then later on, the local poulation were expelled by the Babylonians. Many people groups came and went and settled in the Promised Land. Wars continue to ravage the land of milk and honey yet the cycle of leaving, returning, displacement and feeling all seem to be a recurring theme in this part of the Fertile Crescent.
Very strange that every time I try to reply here, my comments are being deleted… I guess some MOD doesn’t like the truth around here…
wise decision by KAN! avoid any conflicts and promote Israel’s beautiful places.
i guess many of those disputed territories might also be bc of safety concerns
safety comes first after all
No safety problems !!! (There is a lot of security in sensitive holy places). Europe has become much more dangerous than any part of the Jewish Land.
Good decision. It would put the singers who had to film in the disputed locations in a very difficult position.
Yes indeed.
Yup constant harassment from the anti-israel movement.
Conspiracy theory: Roger Waters is only peeved about Israel hosting because he had money on Cyprus last year.