The European Broadcasting Union – EBU made an announcement yesterday, supporting once again Israel ‘s participation in Eurovision 2024.
The announcement comes after the online criticism of the EBU following the inclusion of Israel in the list of 37 countries to participate in Eurovision 2024, while many are calling for the country to be banned from the Music Contest due to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
The Eurovision Song Contest is a competition for public broadcasters from all over Europe and the Middle East. It is a contest for broadcasters – not for governments – and the Israeli public broadcaster has been participating in the contest for 50 years.
The EBU is a member-led organisation. The EBU’s governing bodies – led by the Board of Directors – represent the members. These bodies assessed the list of participants and decided that the Israeli public broadcaster complies with all competition rules. Together with 36 other broadcasters, it will be able to participate in the competition next year.
EBU
EBU also explained they based the decision on the current attitude of other international organizations towards Israel:
At the moment, there is an inclusive attitude towards Israeli participants in major competitions. The Eurovision Song Contest remains a non-political event, uniting audiences worldwide through music.
EBU
EBU even rushed to give answers for the first time regarding the inevitable comparisons between Russia and Israel. We remind you that Russia was excluded from Eurovision 2022, after invading Ukraine , following protests from many participating broadcasters.
In 2022, following the invasion of Ukraine, the EBU’s governing bodies decided to exclude Russia from the Eurovision Song Contest, where they were to compete alongside Ukraine.
As said before, the Eurovision Song Contest is a competition for broadcasters. After repeated violations of membership obligations and violation of the values of the public media, Russia was suspended.
EBU
OGAE Greece is following the topic and will inform you of any new developments. You follow us on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , Twitter andYouTube to learn everything that happens in the world of Eurovision!
Hmm, isn’t there any difference between the Israel-Pakistan war and Ukraine-Russia war?
Pakistan??? Remind me when in history Israel and Pakistan were at war 💀