Eurovision Song Contest organizers against exclusion of Israel
Published: Thursday, Jan 18th 2024, 18:20
Zurück zu Live Feed
The organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) have countered calls to exclude Israel from the music event because of the Gaza war.
"The EBU is committed to ensuring that the Eurovision Song Contest remains a non-political event that unites audiences worldwide through music," the organizers told dpa on Thursday at the EBU headquarters in Geneva. "It is a competition for broadcasters - not for governments." The EBU has been saying something like this for weeks. The ESC final will take place on May 11 in Malmö.
The committees had examined the list of participants and confirmed that Israel met all the requirements for participation. The Israeli public broadcaster has been taking part in the competition for 50 years.
Voices have been raised in various countries, particularly on social networks, calling for Israel to be excluded from this year's ESC. This concerns Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip following the terrorist attack by Islamist Hamas. Israel is being criticized above all for the civilian casualties.
In Finland, for example, hundreds of musicians and other representatives of the music industry recently called on broadcaster Yle to put pressure on the EBU to do so. In several countries, there have also been calls to boycott the ESC if Israel is allowed to participate.
The 68th ESC will take place in Sweden this year because singer Loreen won last year's competition in Liverpool with the song "Tattoo" for the Scandinavian country. The EBU published a list of 37 participating broadcasters at the beginning of December - including KAN from Israel.
After Russia's attack on Ukraine, the EBU announced in 2022 that no Russian act would be allowed to perform at the ESC.
©Keystone/SDA
German 
English 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic