Morocco, the only African country ever to participate in Eurovision, has a rather weak record at the contest. Having only participated once, with Samira Saïd’s “Bitaqat Hob”, it received just seven points, all from Italy.
But hope is brewing that things could change in the coming years. Morocco has established full diplomatic relations with Israel after 72 years — and naturally fans are hoping that may entice them back to the contest. (You’ll remember that they withdrew in 1981 because of Israel’s presence in the contest). Among those fans is KAN’s foreign relations editor Eran Cicurel, who has called on Moroccan broadcaster SNRT to participate once more.
Eran Cicurel calls on Morocco to rejoin Eurovision
KAN’s Eran Cicurel, a reporter and LGBT activist, has invited the North African country to rejoin the contest. His message was short and simple: “Morocco. Peace is Here. Israel and the Eurovision community want you back in the game.”
???? ?? ???? ?? ???????? ?????? ????? ?????? ????????:
Morocco.
Peace is Here.
Israel and the Eurovision community wants you back in the game. @Eurovision https://t.co/7iumm39QuO— ??? ?????? | Eran Cicurel | ????? ??????? (@EranCicurel) December 10, 2020
Morocco’s history at Eurovision
Israel and Morocco’s lack of diplomatic relations has had a great effect on Morocco’s participation in the contest. In 1980, following Israel’s double-win, Israel had to withdraw from the edition, which has held in The Hague. Morocco took the occasion when Israel wasn’t there and debuted at the contest. Then Israel came back to Eurovision in 1981, and Morocco had to withdraw, and it hasn’t rejoined since.
That is no coincidence — the Moroccan broadcaster cited Israel’s presence at the contest as a reason. The same happened with Lebanon in 2005, when Télé Liban had to withdraw three months after the deadline.
Morocco can, however, claim strong connections to recent winners. 2012 winner Loreen and 2018 winner Netta are both of recent Moroccan descent.
Diplomatic ties with Israel established
On Thursday night, the Associated Press (AP) announced the signing of a historic deal. The USA will recognise Western Sahara, while the two Mediterranean nations will make peace for the first time in 72 years.
Now that #Morocco and #Israel share diplomatic relationships, will Morocco take part at the #Eurovision without avoiding Israel?
— Adam International (@adamfoureira) December 11, 2020
Earlier this year the EBU clarified that Morocco are still eligible and that the EBU are in talks with them. We should point out that both Israel and Morocco already participate in other large-scale international events, such as the Olympic Games.
Would you like to see Morocco return to Eurovision? Who should represent them if they take part?
We may return but in a matter of years from now, for the fact that esc is gay friendly and morocco still bans homosexuality, the good news is that there’s been rumours that the government is working on giving gay people their full rights..
Hey Marouane, where did you hear that the government is working on giving gay people their full rights? I’m moroccan and curious to know 🙂
I’m pretty sure Morocco will never return to the contest because it’s an extremely conservative country and they certainly wouldn’t approve of the contest in its current form.
I think Azerbaijan will withdraw if Morocock debut tbh tbh
The more, the merrier.
My dream is for my favourite singer Faouzia to represent Morocco at Eurovision
I would also love to see Saad Lamjarred in the competition! His songs “Ghazali” and “Lm3allem” are bops, although I prefer the first one.
Do you also know “Ensay” and “Ykhalik Lili”? For me, these two are his best songs. “Lm3allem” is also very good tho.
Yes, I’ve heard “Ykhalik Lili” and it’s also a very good song of his! I just somehow like “Ghazali” most. 🙂 I haven’t heard “Ensay” so can’t say my opinion of that song.
Just checked out “Ghazali” and wow, that’s also a great song! 🙂
Saad really knows how to deliver!
Also Abir, Ghita, Saad Lamjarred, Manal, Dièse…. They have a lot to offer.. especially in the esc stage.
OMG… that would be awesome!!! If that happens, the chosen comeback act could be Samira (Ben)Saïd. Have you seen her lastest Tik Tok music performance? Have you seen her album covers? She’s an artist who has walked along the decades, keeping up with musical and aesthetic trends. It would be just wonderful to see her again on the ESC stage.
Check “Mazal” or “Ott w Far” on YouTube, for example. …You’ll see what I mean. She’s a Queen!!!
This was literally the first thing I thought of when I found out the news. I immediately posted a discussion about it on the Eurovision subreddit!
Sorry to burst the bubble, but Morocco not being in the contest has nothing to do with Israel, so they’re not likely to make a comeback unfortunately. Israel and Morocco established full diplomatic relations in the 90s, and still Morocco had no intention to return to the contest. The diplomatic ties were severed in the early 2000s but Israel and Morocco kept cooperating were it came to fianance, import/export and tourism, nothing like the Lebanese who refuse to recognize Israel’s existence. I guess they’re just not interested in taking part, just like Turkey, Slovakia, Monaco and Luxembourg aren’t. Same for… Read more »
Exactly, this article just makes a ton of unsupported and unverified claims. Also Morocco and Israel have always had relations, so nothing formally changes.
Is there any chance to get an Eurovision phone case for Samsung Galaxy A 71 ?
At Wiwibloggs shop there are only for S-series and I don´t find for A anyplace.
Does somebody know a webside for Eurovision phone cases, where I can find a suitable case ?
This made me cackle, thank you.
why is he downvoted? help instead
The definition of Europe already seems to include Asia and Oceania, so why not add Africa to the mix too.
12 points from Argentina go to… JAPAN!
Morocco falls under the European Broadcasting Area and has full member-broadcasters in the EBU.
Careful sweetie, your xenophobia is showing.
If a country like Azerbaijan is an Eurovision regular, I don’t understand why Morocco couldn’t be. Of course it’s been ages since their last participation and I doubt that they prioritize Eurovision or even think about the whole competition at all.
Morocco would be a great addition to the contest though, at least music-wise. They have a lot of talented singers and a great music-scene. And it would be nice to hear some Arabic in the contest as well.
…and why do you distinguish Azerbaijan now?
damn you are SUPER protective off the 0% democratic countries like Turkey and Azerbaijan, Belarus.
When Azerbaijan joined, four out of five neighboring countries were already in, including Turkey which whom they have a strong connection. They also play in European sporting competitions. Morocco is a totally different story. They share short borders with some small Spanish exclaces, but other than that they only border African countries that haven’t ever shown any sign of interest in Eurovision. Also, the comment about the Olympics in the article doesn’t mean anything. Every internationally recognized country (except the Vatican) takes part in the Olympics, as well as some that are only partially recognized and some dependent territories like… Read more »
Morocco is getting a lot of flack in the Arab world for this turn of events as this move was done to get American recognition of their claim to the Western Sahara. Moreover, with Biden coming into office the usual trajectory of international relations will likely return. Also, Morocco isn’t exactly LGBTQ+ friendly and so they’re likely to share the view of Hungary’s current government.
I think they would only return if Turkey did so, and maybe not even then. Morocco didn’t exactly wow people with their debut….
Songs with ethnic/turkic flavours were almost always underrated before the televote, Morocco’s entry is many people’s personal winner according to Youtube Tops.
I’m not sure I get it. Why would Morocco send Turkic music?
I think actually Arab countries could do well at the contest nowadays. Morocco’s debut was exactly 40 years ago this year. I think it could do well, especially if they decide to send a song in French instead of Arabic
Meanwhile I’m still just here hoping for that MENA edition (a.k.a. ArabVision) that was talked about years ago. 22 countries, I think? That would be fun. Might do some good to achieve some unity in the region too.
Are you thinking about superstar? The Arab version of idols.
All the Northern-African countries have quite a lot of strict laws that ban LGBTQ+ rights as well lack of normal human rights, so it’s very unlikely that sudden relations between Morocco & Israel would change anything that much.
Even here in Europe there are laws against LGBTQ+ and equal human rights & respect is still needed. Things go slowly but steady towards future, but this idea of Morocco coming back to Eurovision is a bit too far sighted as of now
Well anyway nice to see good news
I’m sure returning to Eurovision will be Morocco’s first priority, now they’re friends with Israel again
Hahaha its a Joke? For Morroco returning in ESC isn’t their Top pririty than trade exchange of trade, goods and visa liberalization between Moroccans and Israelis, because in the past Morocco was an exporter of Arab Jews when Israel was founded, and many Jews of Moroccan origin live in Israel despite the bad relationships before.
I’m pretty sure it is a joke, indeed.
Of course it was a joke!
This is prime sarcasm, I thank you for it, honestly I do, Paul.
Israel and Morocco become allies and Spain is their main victim.
WTH??.
Does he lie?
It’s true that Morocco entered in 1980 only because Israel was absent that year, but if the issue was the Israeli participation then why didn’t Morocco return in 1984 or 1997 when Israel couldn’t take part? Because the truth is that Morocco felt humiliated after the 1980 result which it perceived as a rejection of its presence there and a sign of European cultural condescension. There was either a royal decree or a governmental order banning the Moroccan state broadcaster from taking part in the contest again. Back in 1980 and all the way into the mid 1980’s Morocco was… Read more »
The irony is that the one country that voted for it (and gave it a good score, too) was Italy. The 12 for Turkey Morocco gave felt like a Muslim nation “Hail Mary” but Turkey didn’t return the favor.
those people are on full #DareToDream mode
Also EBU must set human rights rules for those intertesed countries to take part in ESC because lastely the song contest is turning another EuroGay Pride that values liberalization and acceptance acts more than music and songs and that is already a challenge for conservative and dictatorships countries such as Russia, Hungary, Belarus, some Balkan countries, Turkey and the neighboring Arab countries, and it is one of the reasons why the EBU does not want to include Kazakhstan in the contest, but pretending that the USA is becoming interested and gladdly let invite them.
I dobut that Morrocco will want return to ESC even with Israeli relationship re-stablished because that country still very conservative society, they are not ready for Western flamboyance.
Thousands time said but anyway: Morroco and the other Arab countries don’t take part in ESC because this does not fit with their ”general social acceptance” at the moment, according to their governments of course. Something in the line of Turkey and hypocrital Hungarian goverment lastely.
When will Israel normalise relations with Palestine, it’s closest neighbour? Fix that first before you fix deals with countries far away. Civilians on both sides are fed up with the situation..
As for Morocco, why not? It would bring the contest a nice oriental touch that’s been missing since Turkey left. It would freshen up the sound of the contest for sure and would do well..
Thing is, down the line, I can see an independent Palestine being much more likely to participate than other Arab countries (sans Lebanon)
Peace with Narnia? I don’t think so ..
Israel is only one of two sides in this equation, it can’t just decide on peace unilaterally. It takes cooperation and good will on both sides. I don’t want to get too political, so I’ll only suggest you read about the history of conflict in the last century, the attitude of both sides to two states propositions and peace talks over the years.
Relations with Morocco are available now, both sides are obviously cooperative and willing so why not? It’s not at the expense of a deal between Israel and the PA.
There are two sides yes, but Israel as the aggressor and the one with upper hand should be the one to work for piece seeing how they are taking more and more of Palestinian land every year and build illegal settlements on occupied land. That is not how you propose peace..
Israel is stronger, it doesn’t make it the aggressor. Being a lefty I generally object to the settlement project, but the west bank isn’t occupied (if so – who was it occupied from?). It’s land in conflict, and the Israeli leadership has shown much more faith and willingness to resolve it than the Palestinian leadership. Since the 1930s, Every time a two state solution was on the table or a peace offer was made (and some of them were extremely generous, see PMs Barak and Olmert’s offers in 2000 and 2007 respectively) not only did the Palestinian leadership refuse, they… Read more »
I wrote a reply but it’s pending approval, possibly for being too long, so I’ll make it short.
Israel is stronger, it doesn’t make it the aggressor.
reading your comment I gather you’re very familiar with the PA narrative of the conflict. Some of what you wrote is stretching the truth, to put it mildly. I suggest you examine the facts, and the Israeli narrative as well, with an open mind.
What?
It’s not “someone’s perspective” only 2 out of 5 borders of Israel are internationally recognised. The other 3 are disputed. This is because both Israel and Palestine acted without full support of the international community.
The existence of the conflict is a big failure. And neither of the two countries recognise each other’s existence. Both sides needs to change for progress to come on this
They won’t return. Isn’t it illegal to be gay in Morocco – so I can’t imagine them broadcasting lgbt flags, girls with lack of clothes and gay kisses. But we’ll see – also I’ve heard there’s like zero interest among the population + the broadcaster in the EBU is not rich and focuses on news and such.
Unfortunately, Morocco, much like many North African and Mid Eastern countries, has some messed-up laws punishing LGBT people (it’s up to 3 years in jail there). But maybe the exposure to more tolerant countries would make them loosen-up step by step. First reducing sentences, then abolishing them, then slowly starting some protection laws. Sadly, a sudden 180 isn’t realistic, but we must not give up and continue going in that direction. That’s how it often went in other, now more liberal countries. Basic human rights shouldn’t be debated, but unfortunately, some ancient pseudo-religious laws are still pretty strong in some… Read more »
I feel for the people of the countries with conservative mentalities and dictators, but I also don’t want them in Eurovision. We fought hard for acceptance and freedom, and even since some European countries have joined (won’t give names (it’s pretty obvious which ones)) that peace has slowly started disintegrating.
Perhaps it’s time EBU does something about that. A 2 year sit-out would do some participants good.
as much as I love the culture and the music, and despite the fact of previous participation, I don’t want Morocco to return. don’t turn Eurovision to Worldvision, and don’t use Australia, Caucasians, Cyprus, Israel and Turkey as excuses (same old lame excuses, I know). they should better get Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, Luxembourg, Montenegro and Slovakia to return, plus Liechtenstein to debut.
How do you get those countries to return? They need to want to return.
well, it’s impossible for all of them to return at once in the same year (I forgot mentioning Andorra. but I think at least two of them could return in 2022 or 2023. Andorra is the most likely.
I understand this POV but when you think about it Europe has strong ties with countries like Morocco. At least in France (where I live), I know that we have strong ones with Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Spain even has some land in Africa sharing a border with Morocco. A lot of people in Europe descend from these countries, still speak Arabic, and live in this mix of European and Maghreb culture. On the other hand, many people in these countries talk French (sadly due to colonization ofc) so it would be a big step to unite the Mediterranean Sea… Read more »
no matter how strong Morocco’s connection is with Europe, they are still not in Europe. not everyone can understand this. yes, being inclusive is good, but there should be a limit of “inclusiveness”. if Morocco returns, I am afraid other MENA countries (even those that are in the broadcasting area) will moan for participation, and it’s not good.
Yeah I get what you’re saying but I still think that Europe goes beyond the continent. Moreover, I wouldn’t mind seeing those countries since to me Eurovision is just a party and a cultural event, it would be good for these countries living in our shadows to shine I think !
Turkey has always been in both Asia and Europe. I can’t see how you place them in the extended EBU-zone. They already are in Europe
As much as some people here hate having new(ish in Morocco’s case) countries join, I think it could be nice to have some Arabic representation in the contest. Imagine Andorra, Kazakhstan, and Morocco debuting/returning in 2021. That would be amazing.
Well, Andorra appears to be coming back in 2022 cuz they didn’t want to compete during COVID.
This is going to soon look like worldvision!!
Jokes aside Kazakhstan deserves esc!
Unlike Kazakhstan, Morocco is actually in the EBU
Morocco is a full member of the EBU, which is the general requirement to take part. Full membership is attained if a country falls under the European Broadcast Zone, which goes as far south as much of North Africa and as far east as Iraq and Azerbaijan.
Dare I ask: Why is this the case? Just curious.
From what I’ve researched some time ago, this is all a technical designation based on coordinates as dictated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The “European Broadcasting Area” is bounded on the west by the western boundary of Region 1, on the east by the meridian 40° East of Greenwich and on the south by the parallel 30° North so as to include the northern part of Saudi Arabia and that part of those countries bordering the Mediterranean within these limits. In addition, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and those parts of the territories of Iraq, Jordan, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey and… Read more »
Actually you can get full membership if you’re in that area OR if you’re a member of the Council of Europe, which Kazakhstan is eligible for (if they agree with human rights).