The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has announced that it does not intend to ban Israel’s participation in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
The EBU also stated that it wanted to maintain the competition’s status as a non-political event that united listeners around the world through music.
The decision not to ban Israel faced opposition: more than 1,400 Finnish musicians signed a petition demanding that Israel not be allowed to participate in the competition, accusing the country of crimes in Gaza. Lukas Korpelainen, the initiator of the petition, stated:
Israel violates human rights. We don’t think it’s okay for the country to be part of the (Eurovision) to polish its image.
The EBU, which banned Russia from competing in 2022 due to the war in Ukraine, rejected calls back in December to ban Israel, which has been carrying out bombardments in the Gaza Strip with more than 25,000 deaths, from the contest.
“It is a competition for broadcasters – not governments – and the Israeli public broadcaster has participated in the contest for 50 years. The Eurovision Song Contest remains a non-political event that unites audiences worldwide through music.”
Eurovision positions itself as an annual international, non-political song contest in which representatives from mostly European countries sing live, with participating countries and viewers voting to determine the winner.
