Israel in the top field
Because of Israel: debate about audience voting at ESC
A music show becomes a state affair: in Spain the waves hit up after the ESC final. Among other things, it is about the controversial public voting. Questions also come from another country.
In Spain, a debate about Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest and the good performance of the country has flared up with the audience. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez demanded the exclusion of Israel from the competition. The state TV broadcaster RTVE, meanwhile, announced that the audience voting was requested that the participant of Israel (Yuval Raphael had catapulted in second place on Saturday.
As a reason for his demand, Sánchez named Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip. The offensive even took further bombing on the night of the ESC final, he emphasized. In allusion to dealing with Russia, the socialist politician said: “We are not allowed to allow double standards in culture.” Nobody was outraged when Russia was excluded from the ESC because of the invasion of Ukraine. “The same should also apply to Israel,” said Sánchez.
Cultural character of the ESC is in danger
Meanwhile, RTVE wanted to submit his application to review the televoting in the course of Monday to the European Radio Union (EBU). “Several countries will also make the same application, since they believe that televoting was influenced by the current military conflicts and this could endanger the cultural character of the event,” said the broadcaster.
Already in the run -up to the ESC 2025 there had been tensions between RTVE and EBU. The Spanish broadcaster said that the EBU had been warned of spreading political messages during the live broadcasts. The trigger was an indication of the victims of the Gaza conflict that RTVE had shown in the second semi-finals. Despite the warning, the broadcaster showed another message immediately before the end of the final: “Given the human rights, silence is not an option. Peace and justice for Palestine.”
Belgian broadcaster questions ESC participation
Meanwhile, the Belgian public broadcaster VRT is questioning his future ESC participation because of the broadcaster’s point of view-from the station’s point of view. The broadcaster said that serious answers to concerns about the Eurovision Song Contest. According to VRT, the European Radio Union (EBU) responsible for the ESC emissions wants to have discussions with the transmitters involved.
There was no evidence that the voting count was not carried out correctly, said VRT. However, it also says: “We are calling for full transparency from EBU. The main question is whether the current voting system guarantees a fair image of the opinions of the audience and listeners.”
The ESC is increasingly contradicting the original norms and values of the event and the norms and values of public service broadcasting. The VRT website also means that the demand is supported by a debate about the participation of Israel’s participation in the ESC.
Israel at the top of the public vote at the top
Israel was clearly ahead with the audience. The country had sent the singer Yuval Raphael to Basel. The 24-year-old is a survivor of the Islamist Hamas massacre and other terrorist groups of October 7, 2023. Because of the Gaza War, there were always protests in Basel.
In the vote of the audience, Israel also received high scores from countries in which the action of Israel’s government is rather critically viewed, such as Spain, Belgium or Ireland. In total, Raphael got almost 300 points from the viewers from the 37 participants – as many as no other.
Protest last year
Israel’s participation in the Eurovision song contest semi-finals was accompanied by a protest on the broadcaster VRT last year. At the beginning and end of the transmission of the show, a black and white text board was shown at which unions expressed their displeasure with Israel’s politics. In the fading, the state of Israel in connection with the Gaza War was accused of violating human rights and destroying freedom of the press.
The Gaza War started in October 2023 with a terrorist attack by Hamas in Israel. Around 1,200 people were killed and about 250 kidnapped. According to the health authority controlled by the Hamas, more than 53,300 Palestinians have so far been killed in the war in the Gaza Strip. The number does not differentiate between fighters and civilians and can hardly be checked independently.
Calls between advertisements
On the official EBU channel for the ESC, the Israeli singer Yuval Raphael called again and again in a advertising viewer before the finale to vote for her song. These views, for example, ran in the records of the semi-final programs between advertising for burgers and for internet services. Since the final, Yuval Raphael has no longer been seen in advertising stars in the semi-final programs that are still available online.
On this, the EBU says on request in a statement: The ESC rules prohibit participating broadcasters or third parties such as record companies or others to advertise their contributions online and elsewhere. The advertising should not exploit the competition or violate its editorial guidelines. “Many delegations use paid advertising campaigns to support the song, the profile and future career of their artists.” For the semi -finals, there was no other interpreter with an election call in an advertising window.
dpa
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
