Last week state broadcasters in Norway, Sweden and The Netherlands all fielded questions about Israel’s participation in Eurovision 2024 — and all of them deferred to the European Broadcasting Union, reminding those asking that the broadcasting body makes decisions regarding participation.
And on Friday the EBU finally issued a statement that addressed the controversial issue of Israel’s participation. In a response sent to the Belgian newspaper HLN, the EBU said:
“The Eurovision Song Contest is a competition for public broadcasters from all over Europe and the Middle East. It is a competition for broadcasters — not for governments — and the Israeli public broadcaster has been participating in the competition for fifty years.”
“The EBU is a member-led organisation. The governing bodies of the EBU – led by the Board of Directors – represent the members. These authorities assessed the list of participants and decided that the Israeli public broadcaster complies with all competition rules. Together with 36 other channels, it can participate in the competition next year.”
The EBU also pointed to Israel’s participation in other international competitions, noting that they have not been excluded from other events.
“At the moment there is an inclusive attitude towards Israeli participants in major competitions,” it said. “The Eurovision Song Contest remains a non-political event, uniting audiences worldwide through music.”
The Eurovision Song Contest remains a non-political event……erm……. you made it political when you banned Russia from competing, but yet… SOMEHOW you are going to allow Israel to compete ? I hope countries will start withdrawing, its a shame that my spinless country won’t ! Shame on you !
I mean, they said the same shet about Russia until countries started withdrawing
No matter what your stance on this should be: remember that the Israel-Palestine war has been going on for DECADES. I find it “funny” how suddenly now it’s becoming a problem? It was all fine for all those past years they participated? Hell even in 2021, the last time there was such a big crisis between the two parties with bombings and deaths, there was nothing against Israel’s participation and they even reached the final just fine. There’s no hypocrisy from EBU when this conflict is almost as old as the contest itself and no one blinked an eye at… Read more »
We have been campaigning against their participation for DECADES
I’ve been following the contest for more than a decade and barely saw any protests about their participation besides in 2019 because it was held in Israel (and yet the contest was held just fine) otherwise it was only very few comments. Now suddenly even in news not concerning Israel, there are many comments calling for boycott or to disqualify them (rarely mentioning Azerbaijan in the comments too) so yeah there might have been a few protesting for a while but you can’t deny that it’s nothing like we see suddenly this year. That’s what I’m pointing out in my… Read more »
The voice of reason? more like the voice of lies,how can you support an terrorist organisation that killed over 1400 innocent people, which started the war,Israel has the right to defend itself
The war didn’t start on the 7th October ! Since the 7th October ISRAEL KILLED over 10,000 children !!!!! How is that defending yourself ?
Maybe compare death rates of civilians with other years and you might realise the difference. It is still controversial with their participation just as it has been every year
As they should. Am Yisrael Chai!
awww look at those double standards. Sooo cute!
Israel and Azerbaijan allowed to stay in the contest? Hmm…(money, money, money). If Russia and Belarus are not in it, how come these two are? EBU have no standards
I’m Pro-Palestine but I think Israel should participate. Excluding them from performing for 3 minutes on-stage will hardly do anything to change the situation on the ground.
Eh well the song they wish to send, the reaction of the audience and other participants, their very participation, after committing gen0c1de being exactly what Eurovision was set up to prevent
So it’s way more than just 3 minutes.
People should just stop constantly bringing politics into ESC. It’s a song contest, not a politics contest.
yes and also bring Russia back then (but honestly they are no longer interest, no longer recognize themselves as a european nation, they are bringing intervision back, with mainly asian countries and middle east)
the xenophobia towards russia, but protecting israel is so hypocrite, Putin is right about the west after all, double agendas
Yeah okay…suddenly its NOT about politics when all we’ve seen recently is politics (and the resulting mass sympathy due politics) creeping in to the competition.
My moneys on the competition turning this in to an Israel sympathy-fest and them winning the whole thing like Ukraine did last year.
Nope because Israel dont have the support Ukraine has
Awesome, thanks ebu for saying it like it is
In general, people all over Europe are kinda simping with Israel, seeing what Muslims are doing in their OWN countries.
But, as always, the vocal minority wants Israel to be excluded.
That it is NOT happening boy and girls, and deal with it.
It shouldn’t EBU doesn’t get into controversial topic and moral questions. It’s a song contest.
Herm… Russia?
Disappointed with the EBU, but not surprised. European governments and organizations are all in support of Israel, but the European people are mostly pro-Palestinian.
If the people had the power, Israel would be banned.
I think Eurofans should prepare for mass protests in Malmo too, especially around the fan zones and outside the arena.
I’m not looking forward to the events that will undoubtedly happen in Malmo in May if Israel isn’t banned.
People have the right to protest but it’s not a reason yo ban Israel
I just hope Europe doesn’t give in to Muslims’ demands
This is a humanitarian issue, not a religious issue.
Malmo is a swedish town occupied by muslims! so we know it will happen
“ESC is a competition for broadcasters — not for governments”. Really? I find it hard to believe in this. Seen many opposite examples in the last 50 years.
There will always be a risk for political messages in the contest, on television. We saw it in 2016 by Armenia, 2019 by Iceland and even Madonna! The issue is sanctioning those messages. The EBU likes to use big words, but they are not very scary.
Which country do you think will break the ice and be the first one to threaten to withdraw from the competition if Israel will be allowed to compete ??
Place your bets here.
Iceland will break the Ice and become ‘Land’.
that’s actually a pretty good joke, made me smile a bit
To @Asgeir: Iceland won’t withdraw, and if they do…I don’t know how to feel about it. My opinion regarding Israel/Palestine is as clear as day.
The Real Bejba Is Not The Real Bejba I Am The Only One And Real Bejba Do Not Fall For Their Lies
Your A Joke And A Queer , Find SomeOne Else To Poze As .
Your Not EwennAble To Talk Like Me So No One Beliefs Its Me . Your Embrasing Yourself BigTime … I Could Probly Sue You For This You Know
Yup. definitely not watching and boycotting! it’s the end of esc for me!
We need to differentiate two things: one, where countries are banned from participating in the ESC due to political motives (unfavourable regimes), and two, where countries are actively involved in war actions and, thus, are baned from participating in the ESC. The first category suits best Belarus, but it is against the EBU’s ststement of non-political approach. As such, we should ban Turkey, Hungary, and Poland to some degree too. It makes no sense and I understand why the EBU would not go this way. The second category goes against every value the EBU is rooting for. For this matter,… Read more »
Whilst Turkey did support the attacks on Armenians, I don’t think Poland and Hungary deserve to be out. Poland has a lot of very progressively minded people in their country who love Eurovision and it’s a democratic country. Hungary have recently changed their ways and condemned the attacks on Ukraine, so they should be allowed back and by now it should be clear that Orban is nowhere near as bad as Alex or Putin. I agree with you on your second point though. Why not ban BOTH countries temporarily for a few years until after their wars are over? That… Read more »
They All Should Be In Eurowision But EBU Has Racist Biasis And ZenoPhobia To Countrys Of The East
My point was that the first category (unfavourable regimes) SHOULD NOT be banned. As long as they do not go against the official EBU rules and broadcast all events (including the LGBT+ acts if there are any, for example), they SHOULD be allowed to compete. I may dislike Hungary or Poland on their dicriminating matter of LGBT+ community, but as long as they are not breaking the rules, they should be allowed to compete.
The second category – all sides in active conflicts SHOULD be temporary suspended from the competition for the reasons you did mention, yes.
Agreed. I would also like to mention that Hungary and especially Poland are not so bad as what people think. Poland especially is opening up.
Its Crazy Sugesting To Ban Poland When The Only Thing Poland,Türkiye,Hungary Did To Upset You Is Not Supoort This Disgusting LGBTXYZ Agenda . Its Eurowision And About Songs And Music Not Trying To Make Ewery Contestent A Gay Or All The Viewers A Gay …
Wasn’t Russia banned from Eurovision for breaking ebu rules of free press? I remember seeing something like that somewhere
Belarus was as well since their song was actively trying to promote propaganda in support of Lukashenko (at least I think that was what the lyrics of the revised entry were saying).
I don’t understand why this community and the contest itself became so pro-reactive to every political issue so passionately. I mean I don’t support neither Israel nor the decision of EBU but I really don’t want to care or follow the political news. There are lots of international events coming beside Eurovision like Summer Olympics for example. I didn’t see anythin released from Olympic Comitee or so, why EBU has to release a statement or needs to make a dramatic decision whether to ban a country or not. Again, this comment is completely unaffiliated with the ongoing war and everything… Read more »
I don’t wanna follow the news either but this is literally the main big issue with Eurovision and its problematic ruleset. In reality, everyone should be involved.
Bad things happen and we must be aware of it. It’s nice to just cover our ears and ignore things that happen. Especially when Eurovision was first established back in the day to bring countries together after war, to showcase their identity and culture and friendship through music. Having a country like Israel, or Russia participating completely goes against that. Supporting a country like Israel at Eurovision is a condoning of what is happening in Gaza. As much as it may hurt or as much you may not care or follow political news. Allowing Israel to participate right now is… Read more »
choosing to not follow the news (particularly political news) is a very privileged stance to take especially regarding what’s happening in gaza and how it relates to israel’s participation so perhaps you should educate yourself a bit before weighing in
No matter which is your personal stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict, there is a key difference when it comes to Israel at ESC vs. Russia at ESC. Russia attacked Ukraine, a participating and internationally recognized independent country. It also made active verbal threats against other participating countries, many of which it has invaded at some point in the past. Israel did no such thing. Its conflict is with Palestine, which isn’t participating in Eurovision and never has. None of its close political allies are participating either. Russia’s presence at the same contest with Ukraine, and the likes of Poland, The… Read more »
Easier said than done. In the fact of such emotive scenes, it can be hard to be neutral and pragmatic. A lot of us get our facts from the very broadcasters of this union. Social awareness is what public broadcasting is all about. Only six months ago in Liverpool, we were all singing along to “You’ll never walk alone” as a show of solidarity for victims of atrocity. Now the EBU are telling us to leave our hearts at the door. Mixed messaging.
Also, it goes against the slogan ‘United by Music’.
Just because Palestine isn’t participating doesn’t mean we should ignore it.
EBU needs to wise up and public broadcasting in the participating countries need press harder just as they did with Russia.
russia has attacked.. Israel has been attacked
Israel has been oppressing for years, decades in fact.
Both are occupying powers in their respective wars. Israel attacked in the 60s and has been oppressing ever since.
But why do people have such a brand new way of thinking. What happened to the attacks on Gaza/Palestinians over the previous decades? They weren’t started by the Palestinians. Why is this suddenly an issue when it’s the other way around?
Russia competed 23 times. Why isn’t it still competing? And the whole Bejba incident with TVP, plus issues with UA:PBC? Broadcaster incidents, but Poland and Ukraine are still eligible contestants. The hypocrisy is overwhelming. It’s cute the EBU thinks a sizable portion of the audience will support Israel—sorry, the BROADCASTER—in Malmö.
Also, Belarus makes sense because the broadcaster outright broke the rules, but Azerbaijan gets to stay. The double standards for other countries are way too obvious.
It’s possible Belarus’s behaviour was better than the EBU and Israel’s combined…
Belarus Broadcasting Always Folowed The Rules Of The Eurowision But Its Sad That EBU Has Biasis Against The Eastern Nations
There’s sadly a lot of hate against Eastern Europe despite being a fantastic area with fantastic people! I think it might be to do with allegations of corruption in the 00s and the current status of some of the broadcasters, combined with hate of the country just because of their politics. You can like a country and not agree with their regime!
Galasy ZMesta says hi…
The Ukrainian one in particular is a turd of a broadcaster, as numerous scandals in recent years have shown. If that one is eligible, the Russian one is too. The former Eurovision million voices peace queen of many a Eurofan just joined Putin’s re-election campaign but as the EBU says, it’s about broadcasters, not governments. I still have to LOL at that statement, it is so self-revealing. Did they tell that to themselves in Baku as well?
Bejba Incident ? You Mean Where Bot Accounts And Trolls Tryed To Rig This Results For The Annoying Queer ? Blanka Got Most Wotes , Thats Why She Wins . Lots Of Woters For Janna Were Robots
can’t we just start hating both countries thanks
just hate palestine
i myself am voting Israel so hard in may, hopefully we will get another magic moment by them like in 2016 with the wonderful Hovi
And I’m hoping Israel will stay in the semis. Everyone has their dreams. 🙂
I’m hating Israel because of their Anti democratic and theocratic behaviour while I equally hate the State of Palestine because of their terrorist behaviour. However, I don’t hate the citizens, just the nations, two different things
Israel is a democratic state by definition and acts that way, dont know what are you talking about to be fair…
Then search for it. Netanyahu is building a far-right-religious government. I am very aware of what I’m talking about.
Don’t worry about that
With the amount of mistakes that Netanyahu has made since he built that government there is no way that the people in Israel are gonna let him stay as prime minister when the war will end.
And we’ll just vote National Unity into power who drive the exact same agenda as Netanyahu and Likud.
So what’s going to change, realistically? I’m upset.
The politician that will be functioning as ministers at the government will be more balanced and sane
Trust me that’s gonna affect in a positive way not only at Israel
Are You Hacked To Now ? What Is This Nonsence
You give multiple personalities truly a new definition
Ite Really Not Me . Green Bejba Used To Be Me But WhoEwer Posting As It Now Is Not Me . He Found The Email I Used And Now Pretends
it’s really hard to copy a writing style 1:1
What Does This Mean ? The Fake Bejba Does Not Belief The Same Things As Me Or Talk The Way I Do
You’re a troll who’s just click baiting, that’s why you’re using multiple names.
I don’t think the anti-booing tech will be advanced enough for Israels entry in Malmo
I don’t think that many pro-Hammas nuts are gonna make it to Malmö.
i hope they will, Israel need to get boo’d so much that they’ll withdraw on their own in 2025 and stay away for good
A lot of pro-Palestine people will be there. They have a lot of Palestinian immigrants in Sweden. Even the likes of Eric Saade and Loreen have origins from that area!
Loreen’s origins are Berber. Berber people are among the many victims of Arab colonialism.
Loreen is of Moroccan origin, but yeah, that shows Islam isn’t actually respectful of local cultures and usually assimilates nations forcefully
You are all nuts! Israel is right! You need to stand with Israel.
Need? We don’t capitulate to Israel.
Unfortunately it seems that our governments in the west do unfortunately capitulate to them
A vast majority of people dislike terrorists.
Look who is talking, bds member, the inventor of terrorism….
we don’t need more Israeli propaganda…
Noam600 He Works For Izrael Gowerment Dont Listen To Him He Is A Skammer
Sir, this is a Wendy’s.
As far as I know, Russia was banned because the broadcasters asked for it or they would withdraw. Now those broadcaster are avoiding the issue by saying it has to do with the EBU. I mean,you can’t compare both situations, this time broadcasters are doing nothing. On the other hand, both conflicts are different you just can’t simplify. Russia declared war on Ukraine and was the first to attacked. Israel was offcially attacked by Hamas and declared war on them, not Palestina itself. Yeah, sure it is very convenient for Israel nationalists to go all over Gaza and Cisjordania. I… Read more »
Israel has given support to groups like ISIS (and there are evidences of this), EBU hasn’t punished them for it. This war won’t be different, sadly.
Please don’t spread misinformation, as an Israeli and a former soldier- this is completely false. Stop spreading hate, even though it’s so easy these days.
That’s a lie. Shame on you.
Izrael Funds H4M4S Because It Is Benafit To Them To Potrey Them As Terorist When Reality Is Izrael Is Terorist State . Netenyahu Also Says This Is The Stratagy For Many Years
We know you are muslim jihadist…get lost, 72 virgins are waiting for you in heaven, what are you waiting for?
Ill Newer Be Moslem Im Christian
of course they would justify Israeli participation.Jews rule the world..if it was for Bulgarians or another poor nation, they would have been eliminated long time ago..its all about money
Where is the lie?
“Jews rule the world” is unquestioningly an anti-semitic lie.
Try saying that to the organised blockades that run the two party system in the US and UK…or the banks…
not for very much longer though lol
Even the sponsor is Israeli!
You Are Realy Actualy Right Beacause Its Not Fair For Rich Nations To Get Pass Like Izrael/Azerbaijan But Not For Nations Like Russiya, Kazakhstan, And Belarus
ANTISEMITISM
Fighting terrorists and defending your population is absolutely legit and it would be utterly absurd to disqualify Israel because of it. Good luck to Israel, both in Eurovision and in removing Hamas from the face of the earth.
As for the people who believe that Israel should just let Hamas commit another holocaust, they are most welcome to boycott Eurovision. They’re the textbook case of a good riddance.
hope they fail in both, terrorists need to win
Apparently another commenter claims they funded ISIS though!
obviously, since they have a deal with israeli brand MoroccanOil as one of their main sponsors
pretty sure they’ll soon also invite Qatar or something, with some new qatar airways deal
allow Russia back in then, no double agendas pls
AFAIK, Qatar would in fact be eligible by EBU rules.
But Qatar against lgbt+ so its not gonna happend
Israel is against lgbt
oh wow, good on Israel for being against that
Tel aviv is literally like the gayest city in world??
We probably won’t be able to sanction Israel at Eurovision, especially given that most European politicians support it no matter what. But if nothing else we can be glad that it has become a major topic of conversation, even though what they’ve been doing to Palestinians has been going on for decades. Might at least encourage some people to think a bit more about the situation in the world.
…And think about their own countries and internal situations… instead of blindly giving money and military supplies to random countries!
What we can do is to just not check for Israel at all, not commenting them, not listening to their song, fully excluding them from discussions as a kind of protest.
That’s what we should do about Azerbaijan as well.
It’s almost like every p*lestinian holy site is build on top of a Jewish holy site. Even the name is a colonial name imposed by the Romans to humiliate and disenfranchised the native Jewish inhabitants. The ‘colonialism’ reversion is insane. Israel needs to enforce way more caution in the war but it seems like nobody has any historical nuance in the p*lestine israel conflict.
https://youtu.be/qMqq-dWCAd0?si=UCE3JELLMtPRmg-W
Dutch television made a good video about it with translation.
Also do we want to ban Armenia for claiming artsakh? Because the people might be armenian but Azerbaijani sovereignty over that region has been internationally recognized. If we think every single war situation is the same like said in this comment section, that would mean Armenia gets a permanent ban until they stop their claims on Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan stays. There was a time that Spain has extremely violently suppressed catalan and basque minorities back in the seventies under dictatorship. They stayed in eurovision. O and the most hypocritical thing of all: almost the whole fandom wants turkey back. But… Read more »
The Armenian Empire historically owned Azerbaijan.
I completely respect that angle, but at the same time… how can it be right to ignore thousands of years of historical evolution? Why should it matter who got there first? It was also home to generations upon generations of Palestinians, whose lives also have meaning and value. Their lives were literally swept aside to make way for the new state. Noam Chomsky says a lot of support for Israel comes from a biblical fetish, a form of Christian Z ionism. America, for example, show blind support for Israel… but would never for one moment even CONSIDER the notion of… Read more »
As a Christian, I can say without a doubt that Christianity should be what the Middle East is about…not Judaism OR Islam…if Christians were in control of that area, they would be no war. But instead, the evangelicals in America and the West have decided to continue their war hawkism that started with Iraq and continued with Afghanistan, going into countries that have nothing to do with them and then propping up ‘false’ allies that don’t actually benefit them. It’s time these countries put their own countries first. Even the right has self evaluated itself over this and Israel is… Read more »
Christianity is not immune from war, as Northern Ireland proved.
I would advise you to get your facts from other sources than tiktok and chants from pro-P4l3stin3 rallies. Over the years the Pal3stini4ns have had several opportunities to establish their own state in as much as 80% of the land between the river and the sea. In every junction, the 4r4b/Pal3stini4n leadership opted for viol3nc3 of a peaceful compromise. The P4l3stini4ns are first and foremost victims of their own leadership, as well as the entire 4r4b world, perpetuating their vict!mh00d for p0litical gain .
I’m not on tiktok, and I don’t attend rallies. You are right though, that events like this do help to remind us of the importance of public broadcasting. Reliable sources are getting harder and harder to come by. I ordered two books recently, “A Simple Guide to Israel, the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth”, by Noa Tishby, and “Golda Meir, Israel’s Matriarch”, by Deborah Lipstadt. Hopefully I will learn something. Until then, all I can do is speak from my heart.
#WiwiBookClub
Enjoy. Noa Tishby is pretty cool when she’s not butchering names of Eurovision entrants and entries. I’m also a supporter of public broadcasting, here in Israel the public broadcaster is doing a terrific job IMO. I do have some reservations on the reliability of public brodcasters’ reliability, at least where it comes to our conflict. It has been mind boggling to see the inaccuracies and half-truths reported by the BBC over the past week, proving that half of the truth is often worst than a lie. I guess everything we hear/read should be taken with a grain of salt. Sorry… Read more »
No need to apologize, I can be snappy and rude myself. I fully understand why it might be annoying for you to see us all discussing something we are all very removed from.
Is EBU run by the Germans? Because it sure sounds so German to go all the way “pragmatic” just to avoid controversial topics and have balls for once in fifty years.
I’d say EBU has more of a Swiss influence since they’re based in Geneva.
That is just bricks and mortar. The boss of the EBU is Irish, and the boss of the song contest is Swedish.
Just to mention, Ireland is the most pro-Palestine country in the EU. Before anyone starts shouting at me, remember that being being pro-Palestine IS NOT the same as being pro-H*m*s. Amazing how many people are confused about that.
Can you be “pro-palestinian” without being antisemite and racist towards Israelis and Jews? Cause those who protest for Palestine also spit out the same antisemitic propaganda H*tler did.
so what, israeli people have no rights to live
You can be Jewish and support Palestine and not agree with the idea of an Israeli superstate. You can be Jewish and believe that western countries should find themselves and stop giving money to the Middle East OR Israel!
I don’t fully support Israel but Jews deserve to have their own state, there’s 21 Arab states and just 1 Jewish state, not to mention that there used to be large Jewish communities in most Arab states up until the 40s
By that logic, H*tler was a Zionist, because he wanted to round up the Jews and put them in one place…
What you’ve just said is worse than h*itler
It’s not hard to get things wrong when most pro-P4L3ST1N3 politicians do support H4M4S to varying degrees and most of the pro-P4L3ST1N3 crowd repeats what H4M4S spews for propaganda purposes
Some people think the EBU is inheritently Swedish since they have won so many times and there have been ‘fishy’ voting problems in some years and that has been blamed on Osterdahl.
The EBU did exactly what everyone thought they would do. Now it’s up to the broadcasters to prove they aren’t hypocritical. Otherwise the EBU must make sure that Israel doesn’t use the contest for propaganda reasons. Z!onism has no place in Europe or anywhere. Solidarity with P@lestine and Israelis that are against what’s been happening in the region since 1948.
Thank you, Thanos! Exactly! Any discussion on the issue of the Middle east should start in 1948 and the Nakba
Should start in the bible…
Disgusted! and deeply disappointed with the EBU Consequently no Eurovision for me this year! I’m sure millions will still enjoy the glitz – good luck to them!
Israel is ready to end the war on the condition that H4m4s return all the hostages and turn themselves in. As long as this does not happen, the war will continue.
Israel is ready to end the war on the condition that Hamas return all the hostages and turn themselves in. As long as this does not happen, the war will continue.
Sure, if by “war” they mean killing a couple thousand more children. Really, it’s very justifiable. Israel’s just doing what they gotta do. More power to them.
Bruh, do you really believe in H4m4s’s made up figures? XD
You weren’t non-political when it comes to Russia
They were. Short term memory much? Their first official decision was literally to keep russia in the contest. And that was when the war was still fresh.
They were, and then they weren’t lol
plsss how is unicorn a political song… if it can be interpreted as political then anything can lol
Unicorn is not political, it’s just really bad writing lol
If KAN is so ‘independent’ why am I hearing reports that the military LITERALLY did exercises on the stage at their Next Star Thing?
Because KAN decided on its own, that that would be a good thing to do (which, of course, it isn’t).
Clearly it is government supported. Those broadcasters would have been arrested if they didn’t agree!
Next star is not KAN production it’s aired on another channel
Israeli Gowerment Hacked My Account And Is Posting Lies Pretending To Be Me . Do Not Listen To Green Bejba Its A Fake
Good Morning To Ewery One Escept The Fake Bejba , Corupted EBU , And Corupt Swedisb Telewision
Now I Use My Yandex So Now Fake Bejba Cant Hack Me , Im Back For Good
It’s incredible to me how many of the comments are crying hypocrisy over Russia being banned but not Israel.
This is tiktok political activism for you. Russia is “bad”, Israel is “bad”, they should therefore get the same treatment.
I guess this is not the place for a complex political discussion, I’ll just say this: These are two very different countries in two very different situations. They are nothing alike and claiming they are is a sign of cluelessness.
(Not to mention that the Israeli broadcaster adheres to the EBU standards, while the Russian broadcaster doesn’t).
Well… EBU standards are really more of a theoretical thing. They let Aliyev TV host and do whatever they wanted in 2012. Didn’t Azeri authorities at one point even investigate Azeri citizens who voted for Armenia? I didn’t hear any outrage from the EBU. And frankly, I’ve never heard any complaints about the Russian broadcaster coming from the EBU before they forcibly broke up. Clearly, we can’t judge on EBU standards.
There ARE similarities and the EBU has a very clear ‘no politics’ policy.
There are zero similarities. Russia is an aggressor. Israel is defending itself following a brutal attack. Not comparable even in the wildest sense.
Both Israel and Russia have bombed and killed innocent civilians whilst trying to get rid of what they have called ‘terrorists’. They call all of their enemies ‘terrorists’ by the way.
Russia targets civilians. Israel does not, otherwise they wouldn’t give civilians notices to evacuate and jeopardize their own troops in order to avoid en3my civilian casualties. It is not Israel who calls them “t3rror!sts”. It is also the European union, Canada, UK, Australia and Japan (to name a few) who designate it as a t3rror!st organization.
Israel doesn’t call all of its enemies t3rror!sts, BTW. Only the those who really are ones.
If Israel didn’t break any “Eurovision” rules, then why not let Russia back
The double standards are astonishing
Because russia is an internationally recognized terrorist state. Israel is just defending itself.
Defending itself? Israel is a modern-day apartheìd state and always has been. Israel started this by the way, people seem to forget that the attack at the Nova festival wasn’t the start of the war.
Already fed up with all this…
of course hopefully making everyone lose interest in eurovision lmao, what do we care about you fake music fans
…
Yasssss EBU Tell Them!
I dont Speak Like That . You Sound Gay
You Are A Inpersonating Hacker /Lier You Are Not Even Close To The Bejba I Am
You Diskowred My Email And Hacked Me , Stop Lieing And Pretending Because No One Actualy Beliefs Its Me Saying This Nonsence Things
Nonsense things sound just like you.
Its A Empersonater Trying So Hard To Be Me
Not that hard to do so tho
If the EBU is not political, let’s invite Russia and Belarus back.
You said it! Let’s break the rules!
Let’s not invite that terrorist state and its puppet back, like ever.
EBU and all actual people do not support terrorism.
Fairly sure Russias broadcaster complied with all the rules? They kicked Belarus out for some vaguely political statements that weren’t really fully explained? Seems like there is a lot of double standards here happening on the EBU side. The non-political statement at the end just makes me laugh lol.
Just FYI, I agree with Russia being kicked out it’s just funny the double standards.
Having Russia out but not Israel OR Azerbaijan is having your cake and eating it.
As if Wiwibloggs is remotely the place to discuss such issues…
It’s Eurovision news. From the EBU. It doesn’t get more relevant than that.
Let me know how that intelligent discussion works out for you…
Only place we can do! Most other sites don’t have the traction or don’t allow comments!
I keep forgetting that MoroccanOil, the main sponsor, is Israeli. That surely only complicates things further.
$$$
You’re starting to flirt with antisemitism. It’s not a good look.
I agree with him and you can be Jewish and agree that some of what Israel are doing is questionable. I recently found out that one of my ancestors had the last name ‘Green’, a Jewish surname. Israel doesn’t define you – Jews can live anywhere in my book. Israel doesn’t fully represent Jewish interests and the government is another matter as they are a political party!
You agree with him that Jews are buying their place with their money? It’s an antisemitic trope, and it says a lot about those who use it.
I couldn’t care less about your ancestry TBH.
Obviously Jews are not obligated to support Israel or identify with it, which has nothing to do with what I wrote.
That was not my point at ALL, in fact it never even occurred to me. What I was trying to say is that if the EBU were to lose their sponsor, there would be repurcussions for the contest perhaps resulting in even higher fees for the broadcasters. This could influence their decision. I was never questioning the motives of MoroccanOil, who I’m sure there only aim is to sell their product. Just like any other sponsor.
I would just like to add that anti semitism is indeed a real and growing problem.
It’s all just come back to me.
‘Americans are Hungry for Oil’ -George Bush
“they can live anywhere,” yeah, they used to live in Arab states up until the 40s. I wonder why
My Heritage, the other one they had a while back, is also Israeli
They also had numerous non-Israeli sponsors. What are you even trying to cherry-pick here, buddy.
Like Who
Then better prepare that anti booing machine!
Drowning out reality since 2015.
Let the ‘a million voices’ speak for themselves!!
I think the other participants need to just grow a pair and say they’ll withdraw if Israel competes. That’s the only reason the EBU kicked Russia out – other broadcasters complained. The EBU was perfectly fine with Russia going to Turin, and it had to be shamed into a response. It is not a beacon of ethical behaviour.
Russia should have never been banned then. Nor Belarus.
I miss Russia in Eurovision, many of their entries were so much fun.
Same!
I miss russia when it didn’t kill civilians, rape women and kidnap children… Oh yeah, that russia never existed. Ask its neighbors.
Russia is not in Eurovision now, sounds like that cheer you up but I guess that will not be enough, why not kick Israel out too and while we are at it, let’s see what other problematic countries we can kick out such as Azerbaijan, Armenia and Serbia, lets have less entries, so we can cancel the semi finals, then people will truly be happy.
If we go back to 1994, Russia’s first year at the contest, it all so different. Russia was a fledging democracy. It wasn’t perfect, far from it, but Western Europe was warm towards Russia and supportive of it as it got to grips with its new post-communist world. And their 1994 song was pretty great too.
Well I don’t see Sergei or Manhiza or Dima Bilan getting into their military uniforms and smuggling a few children across the border!