Irish broadcaster RTÉ asks Eurovision for discussion over Israel’s involvement

Irish broadcaster RTÉ has asked Eurovision for a discussion over Israel’s involvement in the song contest.

• READ MORE: Eurovision 2024 – fans and boycotters speak: “This is bigger than the contest”

This year, Eurovision is set to commence on May 13 in Switzerland, with the finale airing on May 17. This year, 37 countries will be competing, with the likes of Estonia’s Tommy Cash, the UK’s Remember Monday and many more set to make a huge splash.

However, RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst has requested a discussion on Israel’s participation this year, who will compete with singer Yuval Raphael. Bakhurst said he was “appalled by the ongoing events in the Middle East and by the horrific impact on civilians in Gaza, and the fate of Israeli hostages”, and added that he requested a discussion “notwithstanding the fact that the criterion for participating” is membership of EBU.

Bakhurst also said he was aware of RTÉ’s responsibility to “maintain objectivity in covering the war in Gaza”, continuing: “We are also very mindful of the severe political pressure on Israel’s public service broadcaster, KAN, from the Israeli government.”

The director of Eurovision, Martin Green, responded in a statement saying that no broadcaster has “publicly opposed” Israel’s participation, though broadcasters from Spain and Slovenia had also requested a discussion. Green also noted Icelandic broadcaster RÚV had “informed us of their foreign minister’s comments on KAN’s participation”.

He concluded: “The EBU is not immune to global events but, together, with our members, it is our role to ensure the contest remains – at its heart – a universal event that promotes connections, diversity and inclusion through music. We all aspire to keep the Eurovision Song Contest positive and inclusive and aspire to show the world as it could be, rather than how it necessarily is.”

Alongside RTÉ’s request, over 70 former Eurovision contestants signed a letter calling to ban Israel this year.

The letter says that the inclusion of Israel in the 2024 edition led to it being “the most politicised, chaotic and unpleasant in the competition’s history”.

It also accuses KAN of being “complicit in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and the decades-long regime of apartheid and military occupation against the entire Palestinian people”, and claimed that the EBU was “normalising and whitewashing its crimes”.

There was much uproar last year on Israel’s inclusion in the song contest, notably pertaining to lyrics referencing the October 7 attacks. The lyrics were later deemed to have broken the rules of political neutrality, and Israel competed with revised lyrics.

However due to this neutrality clause, the EBU also announced they reserved the right to remove Palestinian flags and symbols, and would go on to censor Irish contestant Bambie Thug for wearing the word ‘ceasefire’ and ‘freedom for Palestine’ as a hidden message on their costume.

Israel’s inclusion prompted boycott calls from the LGBT+ community towards UK entry Olly Alexander, reasoning that the competition was “providing cultural cover and endorsement for the catastrophic violence that Israel has unleashed on Palestinians.”

We also spoke to fans and boycotters alike last year. Previous UK entry and Eurovision winner Jay Aston of The Fizz (fka Buck’s Fizz) told us that “It’s meant to be a bit of light-hearted entertainment,” adding: “It’s been taken into a political arena. And it’s very sad because it shouldn’t be.”

Meanwhile, comedian Sam Lake said that he found it “really difficult to not see [Israel’s] participation as a form of propaganda,” calling the EBU’s management of the situation “very questionable”.

The post Irish broadcaster RTÉ asks Eurovision for discussion over Israel’s involvement appeared first on NME.