The big night of European music has arrived. This Saturday, May 11, the grand final of Eurovision 2024 will be held at the Malmö Arena in Malmö (Sweden), in which 25 countries will compete to win the crystal microphone. As is tradition, the gala opened with the flag parade. Precisely, this moment has generated a large number of reactions on social networks in our country, since the TVE commentators, Tony Aguilar and Julia Varela, have had a most revealing gesture when Eden Golan, representative of Israel, came on stage. in the contest.
This 2024 edition is one of the most controversial in the history of the festival. The last week has been marked by tension, which erupted this Saturday, when the representative of the Netherlands, Joost Klein, was disqualified after being involved in “an incident” with a member of the production team. Added to all this is that Israel’s participation in the full offensive in Gaza, as well as the attitude of its media and delegation from the country, has generated protests and signs of rejection from several artists and delegations from other countries.
That is why in every appearance of the Israeli representative, Eden Golan, there was a tense moment. This tension has also been transferred to Spanish commentators. During the flag parade and Eden’s appearance, the RTVE broadcast team limited itself to pronouncing the country and did not mention the candidate’s name or her song.
The gesture has not gone unnoticed, since the contest is in the middle of an unprecedented controversy that has even forced the EBU to meet urgently hours before the start of the gala. In fact, in the vicinity of the site, demonstrations were taking place this afternoon in defense of Palestine and against Israel.
The position of the commentators has caused controversy on networks, since there are those who have applauded them for this cold way of presenting the Israeli candidacy and there have been others who consider that RTVE is being lukewarm when it comes to condemning the participation of this country. in the European competition. It is worth remembering that there have been several delegations and artists who have positioned themselves against this presence.
This Saturday, Bambie Thug, the representative of Ireland, decided to be absent from the dress rehearsal to inform the European Broadcasting Union of a complaint about the pejorative comments made about her by the Israeli broadcasting corporation (KAN). During the rehearsal of the flag parade this Saturday, three delegations did not come out: Ireland, Greece and Switzerland – something that did not happen in the grand final.
Likewise, Alessandra Mele, who was to be the spokesperson for the votes of the Norwegian jury, announced hours before the start of the gala that she would not finally participate in the contest and was against Israel’s participation. Loreen, winner of the last edition, assured that she would not go out to present the trophy to the Middle Eastern country if she won the contest, as traditionally happens with the previous winner of the festival. The controversy is served in this edition.
