The debate surrounding Israel’s inclusion at Eurovision has overshadowed the contest for the past two years. Now, organisers at the EBU have committed to undertaking a discussion amongst its members on this subject.
News of this future discussion was shared by Irish broadcaster RTÉ following a meeting between its Director General, Kevin Bakhurst, and the EBU.
A press statement reads as follows:
“Further to the comments from RTÉ Director-General, Kevin Bakhurst on Wednesday 7th May – included below – in which he asked the EBU for a discussion on Israel’s inclusion in the Eurovision Song Contest and to his confirmation yesterday that RTÉ will not be withdrawing from this year’s Eurovision, Kevin Bakhurst has confirmed that he, along with RTÉ’s Director of Video, Steve Carson had a meeting today with the EBU and raised RTÉ’s concerns. There is a commitment from the EBU to have a wider discussion amongst members in due course.”
Further details of this discussion are not known. But the vague timeframe would suggest it is unlikely to happen until after the conclusion of the 2025 contest in Basel.
Earlier this week, Ireland’s RTÉ became the fourth broadcaster to publicly request Eurovision organisers at the EBU to facilitate a discussion about the inclusion of Israel in the song contest.
Mr Bakhurst noted on Wednesday:
“I am appalled by the ongoing events in the Middle East and by the horrific impact on civilians in Gaza, and the fate of Israeli hostages. Notwithstanding the fact that the criterion for participating in the Eurovision Song Contest is membership of the European Broadcasting Union, RTÉ has nonetheless asked the EBU for a discussion on Israel’s inclusion in the contest. In doing this, we are mindful of RTÉ’s obligations as an independent, impartial public service news and current affairs provider, and of the need to maintain RTÉ’s objectivity in covering the war in Gaza. We are also very mindful of the severe political pressure on Israel’s public service broadcaster, Kan, from the Israeli government.”
The Irish broadcaster follows its counterparts in Iceland, Slovenia and Spain in raising concerns about the appearance of Israel at Eurovision.
Calls for Israel’s expulsion from Eurovision have grown louder again in the run-up to the 2025 contest as the war in Gaza continues, where more than 52,000 people have been killed since October 2023.
More than 70 past Eurovision participants signed an open letter to Eurovision organisers at the EBU, with the signatories from 12 different countries accusing Israeli broadcaster Kan of being “complicit in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza”. The artists note that “by continuing to platform the representation of the Israeli state, the EBU is normalising and whitewashing its crimes”.
These comments were later backed by reigning Eurovision champion Nemo. The Swiss singer, who is set to hand over the trophy at next week’s event, commented:
“I support the call for Israel’s exclusion from the Eurovision Song Contest. Israel’s actions are fundamentally at odds with the values that Eurovision claims to uphold — peace, unity, and respect for human rights.”
Ever since protests surrounding Israel’s participation at the song contest began, the EBU has so far repeatedly shut down these calls. They state that the event is a competition between public broadcasters rather than governments, noting the contest must remain apolitical.
The discussion will go something like this.
EBU: Israel pay too much in sponsorship to consider their exclusion from future competitions. Meeting closed.
The row will continue for many more years, thus casting a shadow over the contest for a long long time.
I am afraid this is just a matter of delay tactics. Look at what is actually happening. A vague gesture towards a camera woman called for the immediate disqualification of the Netherlands in 2024, but KAN’s defending the onslaught in Gaza apparently is okay for the EBU. I sincerely doubt a future Israeli exclusion from ESC.
Europe still sending weapon to Israel,
such a hypocrite supporting genocide shame on you European.
Well this is good news. They will, however, need to look elsewhere for the money, past MoroccanOil, booking.com, MyHeritage etc. That’s the real problem here.
Netherlands gets disqualified 5 minutes before the final rehearsal for a ‘vague gesture towards a camera’. Meanwhile KAN: a broadcaster who receives all of their funds from the genocidal israeli government and therefore alone clearly isn’t an independent functioning broadcaster gets a ‘wider discussion in due course’.
Are we still going over this a year later? Netherlands was disqualified because Joost was under police investigation.
And then after the discussion at least 30 broadcasters will say to keep Israel in Eurovision.
Just 70 (out of how many previous Eurovision singers?) signed that letter, and half of them were a bunch of Icelanders.
The ones who didn’t sign it probably never even knew of its existence. It’s not like there’s a club where they all hang out for tea and sandwiches.
Omg Jonas there totally should be though
lol But yeah, this was obviously not very well executed. They should’ve given it more thought (and time?!) and get more people to sign.
Nemo joined later. It’s going to keep growing.
Huh, they’re actually listening
But will they do anything? That’s the real question.
The chances of anything coming out of this beyond a bland press release are about the same as Monaco winning the contest this year. . .
Hopefully this leads to a meaningful discussion and not the EBU’s classic response to controversies.
Remind me what exactly the brand new role of Director of the Contest is for?
Actual question, not rhetorical sarcasm.
To be a an extra hot a** daddy for everyone to drool over? Just a wild guess,Jonas.
Does RTE have special influence here, considering that EBU boss Noel Curran was once Director General of RTE himself?
Bibi thinks he’s helping Israel, in reality he is harming it more than H a m a s has ever done. Support for Zionism is dying, and he is the one killing it.
He’s certainly not embodying the true Jewish values of justice, truth, peace, and caring for others for sure.
Like MAGA certainly do not embody Christian values. Sigh. It’s a fcked up world.
Actually, I retract that comment… I wonder if he genuinely cares at all, I’m not sure if he actually cares about anything but himself.
That’s the problem. The only way he stays in power is to cater to the extremely nationalist element in Israel. it’s all about him staying in power.
After everything that’s been shared by Eden, I really feel bad for what she had to go through in Malmö, every contestant should be treated with the same amount of respect and the death threats and her having visions of her being shot and her whole team coming off stage crying, just because of the country she was born in, this is just bonkers and Eurovision 2025 should not carry this on, this is why we need to stop disqualifying everyone, Eurovision is meant to be a contest to bring countries together, and that’s what should be shown live and… Read more »
+1
Last year was disgusting. This was quite disappointing for the level of Eurovision. The people/fans who are supposed to be “peaceful” behaved awful. Like animals
You don’t like a country because of their politics?? Okay
But It doesn’t mean you have to bully some singer and the music team. Send them death threats, ignore them, chase them outside of stadium… What is this? What are you doing….?
No one deserves this behaviour. Can you just be respectful towards the person?
Exactly. Unfortunately people don’t change. Those Russian twins got booed in 2014 all because of being born in Russia. Being born in a controversial country is not a crime and we shouldn’t punish everyone just because of their government. It shocks me that people who claim to be left leaning, are quite happy to show hostility to someone based on where they’re born. Then they’ll say “but we’re just criticising Israel. We’re not antisemitic”. It’s just like those racists 20 years ago who were islamaphobic and hostile to anyone who looked middle eastern, and then would say “it’s not islamaphobic… Read more »
Keeping Israel out of the contest won’t help stopping any war!
It’ll show that it doesn’t condone Israel’s actions. Israel gains a lot of revenue from their presence in the contest. Can’t say that they use all the money for moral means
It hasn’t stopped Russia from attacking Ukraine three years on.
Of course not but it’s stopped russian propaganda from being broadcast openly at home and Putin supporters lime the vile Million voices’ Polina from appearing with songs about being united whole she was supporting war crimes and brutal repression
It’s too late for this year unfortunately. But I get it.
But hopefully they let the broadcasters voice their concerns and come to a reasonable, realistic and non-hypocritical decision.
The EBU is clearly feeling the heat. Let the people power continue, it’s clearly working no matter what the trolls and bots say here.
Get Israel out!
The discussion may very well happen after the contest this year is over, but I do fear that if Israel wins, it’s gonna get chaotic and ugly instead of calm and measured if another country wins. Heads will roll. A boycott movement could get going and I could see the countries who are raising the issues actually threaten to either not participate next year or even withhold their EBU membership dues unless Israel is not allowed to host or participate in the contest. You can’t just keep kicking the can down the road because something is going to erupt, and… Read more »
They won’t win.
Juries won’t rank them high
I’m seriously hoping that’s the case here friend.
Stop saying that the EBU excluded Russia immediately; it’s a lie. Their initial statements were that Russian participants would be welcomed at the competition. This caused a huge reaction from broadcasters, leading to massive statements of refusal to participate. Only after that, on the second day after the invasion, did the EBU ban Russia’s participation. You can even read the news on wiwi.
doesn’t matter, also we need more participating countries, not less participating countries so if you want Israel kicked out, then EBU needs to do more to help countries like Bosnia & Herzegovina getting rid of their debts easier, making the contest cheaper to participate to bring back North Macedonia, Bulgaria Hungary and Turkiye will be a more difficult problem to try and bring them back, as long as Orban and Erdogan are their respective leaders maybe invite Kazakhstan, considering they were quite competitive at junior eurovision hopefully Monaco’s comeback soon, as well as Andorra’s comeback (in a partnership deal with… Read more »
Yes, a little cheaper and we could get some new members, that would be nice
im quite confident that israel’s exclusion would definitely inspire more arab countries to eventually join, like lebanon and jordan, who have previously expressed interest but been against it due to israel’s participation. morocco potentially could as well but they are even more conservative than the other two so would certainly be at odds with a lot of eurovision’s values.
Tunisia was also debating joining one year.
The EBU should have nipped this in the bud earlier and commit to a serious discussion after May 17. This would have diffused some of the frustrations and anger building up among broadcasters, artists and fans. I’m almost certain that KAN will not have the support of mosr members if Israel continues on the path of escalation and starvation.
Broadcasters with concerns should have started this earlier. Coming up with this matter one month or one week before the competition, respectively, doesn’t help anyone. If they want to stay away it’s their decision. But don’t start with this now. It’s too late. Kan confirmed their participation quite early last year so where were these concerns back then?
How many innocent souls have been killed since then? Hope of a resolution has dwindled to nothing,