Israel’s Eurovision role triggers deep split in contest

{"text":[[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":7.5,"text":"Broadcasters from across Europe gather in Vienna this Saturday for the Eurovision Song Contest, where the usual mix of operatic techno bangers and torch songs risk being overshadowed by national boycotts and accusations of vote manipulation."}],[{"start":23.7,"text":"This year’s glitzy event is likely to be marked less by Eurovision’s traditional messages of inclusion and harmony than by the conspicuous absence of five countries protesting against Israel’s participation."}],[{"start":37.9,"text":"The avowedly non-political singing competition has long been shaped by geopolitical tensions, with votes often influenced by national loyalties rather than musical quality. Rivals are routinely handed “nul points”. Eurovision remains the world’s largest music competition, attracting a worldwide audience of more than 166mn last year."}],[{"start":59.55,"text":"But the involvement of Israel — despite protests over the conduct of its war with Hamas — has caused one of the deepest rifts in Eurovision history."}],[{"start":67.85,"text":"The Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Iceland have pulled out of the 2026 contest."}],[{"start":74.5,"text":"“When you’re this big as a global event, it is inevitable that if the world is going through a particularly difficult time, it’s going to affect you. Navigating that is very difficult,” said Martin Green, director of Eurovision."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":87.85,"text":"Israeli singer Yuval Raphael won the public vote last year, although she failed to triumph overall given fewer votes from official judges in a 2025 contest ultimately won by Austria’s JJ with Wasted Love. "}],[{"start":102.19999999999999,"text":"The contest is open to countries with broadcast operations in Europe, as well as those invited as special guests. But the overwhelming public vote for Israel led to requests for an audit of the votes by state broadcasters including in Spain, given concerns that small groups of people were being encouraged to vote the maximum 20 times to swing the vote. "}],[{"start":123.24999999999999,"text":"Social media accounts linked to Israel’s government, including its embassies in countries such as the UK, called on viewers to use all of their votes to support its entry."}],[{"start":134.75,"text":"The European Broadcasting Union, a group of public broadcasters from 56 countries that runs the competition, said the vote had been independently checked and verified as correct. "}],[{"start":145.35,"text":"Green said the EBU “thought that the promotion by some agencies in Israel was out of proportion last year to what we expected”. He added that promotion “is a fundamental part of the record industry . . . so we don’t want to limit that, we just want to keep it proportionate”. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":160.6,"text":"The EBU has since sought to quell the rebellion in its own membership with new rules to address concerns over block voting. However, members were not asked to vote on Israel’s participation in this year’s event, with the EBU saying that a “large majority of members” agreed that there was no need."}],[{"start":176.85,"text":"Rules were changed to halve the number of votes allowed per person — from 20 to 10 — as well as tweaked to limit excessive promotion of a single act. "}],[{"start":186.15,"text":"Green admitted that there was “a perception” that 20 votes per person was too many. “The data shows the availability of those votes would not affect the outcome [last year], because of the sheer scale of our vote over the world but we were happy to deal with a perception problem, and we said let’s just take that down to 10.”"}],[{"start":203.55,"text":"However, Israel’s national broadcaster Kan has already been rebuked this year with a formal warning over a clip on social media by Bettan, Israel’s entrant, urging viewers to vote the maximum 10 times. The message was delivered in several European languages."}],[{"start":219.75,"text":"Green said that the “direct encouragement to vote 10 times for the same act by the act we think is not in the spirit of the competition”. "}],[{"start":227.05,"text":"Kan was contacted for comment."}],[{"start":229.60000000000002,"text":"Pro-Palestinian protesters have sought to disrupt the past two Eurovision contests in Switzerland and Sweden. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":237.3,"text":"Green does not expect similar protests this year but activist groups have already criticised the event. "}],[{"start":243.9,"text":"Amnesty International’s secretary-general Agnès Callamard said: “The failure of the European Broadcasting Union to suspend Israel from Eurovision, as it did with Russia, is an act of cowardice and an illustration of blatant double standards when it comes to Israel.”"}],[{"start":259.3,"text":"Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 75,000 people, according to Palestinian health officials, displaced most of its 2.2mn population and triggered a humanitarian catastrophe. The conflict was prompted by Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people. "}],[{"start":281.15000000000003,"text":"Israel’s involvement in the competition is the latest political dilemma for the EBU, which expelled Russia in 2022 after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine won the contest that year, although the subsequent event was held in the UK."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

Most-streamed Eurovision entries on Spotify

Country	Artist	Entry	Streams
Italy	Sal Da Vinci	Per sempre sì	26,222,505
Sweden	Felicia	My System	19,173,000
Finland	Linda Lampenius, Pete Parkkonen	Liekinheitin	12,997,558
Cyprus	Antigoni	Jalla	6,016,095
Greece	Akylas	Ferto	5,415,439
Israel	Noam Bettan	Michelle	5,321,277
Germany	Sarah Engels	Fire	4,796,599
Bulgaria	Dara	Bangaranga	3,504,109
Austria	Cosmó	Tanzschein	3,003,851
Moldova	Satoshi	Viva, Moldova!	2,954,405
Source: Spotify

"}],[{"start":295.25000000000006,"text":"Even so, Green said: “We have a fundamental belief . . . that we should try and keep Eurovision as neutral as possible. It is a space where people can share the same stage and possibly show that the world can be different than what it is.”"}],[{"start":309.15000000000003,"text":"The EBU could also face a potential drop in fees from the five countries that have dropped from the competition. "}],[{"start":315.55,"text":"Green said three other countries had rejoined the contest — Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova — while the event’s commercial model was “incredibly robust” given the mix of ticket sales, sponsorship, merchandise and other income. “The participation fees are calculated on the number of people who take part right now.”"}],[{"start":334.25,"text":"However, viewing numbers could be affected, with three of the boycotting countries refusing to show the contest at all, including Ireland, which is playing an old Eurovision-themed episode of Father Ted, while Slovenia will show a documentary about Palestine. Green said that the number of viewers on YouTube was up on last year and the show sold out in record time. "}],[{"start":356,"text":"“There is an enormous amount of people who are ready to come, celebrate and support the values of Eurovision, which has always stood for unity and inclusivity right through its 70 years’ history,” said Green. "}],[{"start":368.3,"text":"“Don’t forget, part of the reason for the invention of Eurovision was to bring the world closer together in the aftermath of the second world war. And I think maintaining those values and knowing who we are is really important.”"}],[{"start":389.55,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1778849760_4500.mp3"}