Yuval Raphael is Israel’s competitor for Eurovision 2025.
The war in Gaza means that the European Union of Broadcasting is risking its liberal reputation, but banishing Israel would be undermining the fundamental purpose of the organization.
While preparing to watch the final on Saturday, many Eurovision fans will feel divided. Some won’t even see at all, and the reason is the Participation of Israel.
Isn’t Eurovision be supposed to be about “love, love, peace, peace”, how did the Swedish presenters of the 2016 contest portrayed so memorable?
If so, says the British writer Chris West In an opinion article no, some may ask What is Israel to do in Eurovision?
Some people argue that the people who direct Eurovision, members of the European Union of Broadcasting (UER), They are simply cowards. Others point to the sponsorship of the event by Moroccanoilwhich, despite the name, is Israelite.
But a large international organization such as the European Union of Broadcasting hardly depends on a company of beauty products.
Eurovision Vlogger Matthew Wrather presented a more subtle argument: it is the Fundamental purpose of UER. When the Union was founded in 1950, it had both a “technical” function, as one we would now consider policy.
Technically, the project aimed share ideas and allow broadcasts international. The song contest was just one of them; The first was even a festival in Montreux.
Politicallythe UER supported the “public service broadcasting” biased fundamentally critical and liberal: the broadcasters that were simply spokesmen of their governments were excluded.
Having fought against Nazism and now living in the shadow of Soviet Russia, the Western Europeans saw the open debate as being at the heart of serious broadcasting.
Since then, however, This model has been the target of criticism. In much of Europe, the right consistently attacks public service broadcasters as liberal spokesmen.
On the other hand, many on the left, see the public service radioxifusers as bastions of conservative values, defending the the status quo At best – or as a state propaganda at the worst. With its mission thus contested, the UER is between the sword and the wall, as it was not in 1950.
Nowhere is this Trueier than in Israel.
Em 2017, Benjamin NetanyahU abolished the old IBA, the broadcasting authority of Israel. This year, Eurovision was precisely its last broadcast.
The reasons cited were financial, But the commentators argue that it was a political move: A was seen as too much of Esquerda. It was replaced by Kan, the current station.
Kan is more docile than IBA – But not yet docile enough for the government, which wants surrender it to the private sector.
The Minister of Communications, Somethinghad previously presented a proposal for this purpose in 2023, accusing the network of biased coverage and claiming that He spoke in a “shameful way” to members of the government. The body “would be breaking the rules of the UER and would not be allowed in Eurovision.
The UER feels forced to protect Kaneven if it means risking the Eurovision brand. That’s what was created for this: To defend the public service broadcasting “free and independent“.
Managing the Eurovision Songs Contest is only tangential to this mission.
There is no easy output. After the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin, the UER did not No movement to ban eurovision Russia Until the participating nations came from issuing statements and suggesting dialogue to say they would leave the organization – when the UER quickly acted.
The same did not happen With Israel’s involvement in the competition, says Chris West, author of the book “Eurovision: A History of Modern Europe Through the World’s Greatest Song Contest“.
The Uer is, in a way, victim of his own success in the management of Eurovision. The contest grew from its essentially relaxed original roots, for something that Sends powerful political messages all over the world.
Its leaders had a Easy task for a long timesince these messages were Little controversial in liberal circles.
When the transgender Israelite singer Dana International won in 1998, the UER could genuinely Give yourself a palm for being at the forefront of social change.
The same with the magnificent victory of Conchita Wurst in 2014. Eurovision was about good and wonderful things. “Love, love, peace, peace“.
Now, The organization is in a dilemma. The current Israeli government is not a peace practitioner and his participation in the contest has been used by some to demonstrate support for the nation.
In the long run, the UER must or abdicate the contest control of songs – or change your mission, so that the protection of the Eurovision brand is unequivocally in your heart. Must establish clear rules For eligibility, so that the contest is really about “love, love, peace, peace.”
But this year, the final of the Eurovision competition It will not be an easy program Watching for a moderate fan, Chris West concludes.
