Israel will participate in the next Eurovision Song Contest despite the bloody ongoing war in Gaza, after being officially included in the list of 37 competing countries made public yesterday by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Swedish public television SVT. organizers of the 2024 contest. This 68th song festival will be held in May in Malmö, with Sweden as the host after Loreen’s victory with Tattoo in this year’s edition in Liverpool.
The announcement of Israel’s participation in the European public television musical contest has generated discomfort and even indignation in some associations of Eurofans and specialized press, who consider its presence at the festival inadmissible due to the massive Israeli military response to the terrorist attack in Hamas of October 7, in which more than 1,400 Israeli civilians died, and which has so far caused more than 15,000 Palestinian civilian deaths. The demands of the international community to stop the bombings continue.
The Israeli willingness to go to Eurovision next May, despite the war and the obvious erosion of its public image abroad, was suspected because on November 20, television premiered the program HaKokhav HaBa (the next star), where has chosen the representative for Eurovision since 2015, with the exception of this year 2023, in which Noa Kirel was selected internally by the public radio and television station, KAN. Noa Kirel came in third place in the contest.
From HaKokhav HaBa came Netta, the winning singer in Lisbon’2018 with Toy and who thus took the following year’s edition to Tel Aviv. This time the program has been labeled ‘Special Edition’, to avoid direct references to the fact that it functions as a national pre-selection gala as the Benidorm Fest is now in Spain. Filming was to begin on October 31, but was canceled due to the deaths of two Israeli soldiers.
Eurovision has always been a sounding board for geopolitical tensions, and in recent years it has been much more noticeable. The war in Ukraine, the other major war conflict that now affects countries involved in the festival, led to Russia’s withdrawal in 2022. Vladimir Putin began the invasion of Ukraine on February 24 and decided not to send a Russian singer to compete in Turin, where the Ukrainian group Kalush won, among general favor, with the song Stefania.
NATO and the EU congratulated the invaded country on its victory, and the Kalushes then proceeded to auction the trophy to donate material to the Ukrainian army. The president, Volodymyr Zelensky, aspired to host the 2023 festival in Ukraine, but the EBU rejected it and it was finally held in Liverpool, as the British representative came second.
Israel’s participation in 2024 predicts great tensions in the festival community and in European public opinion. An example: the specialized news website Eurovoix announced on November 20 that it would restrict its coverage of Israel to a minimum after a video by HaKokhav’s production company HaBa in which they announced “connections and moments with soldiers of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). )” and that “some jurors and contestants would appear dressed in military uniforms.”
Israel has competed in the Eurovision Song Contest 45 times since 1973, the year of its first participation. She has won it four times: in addition to Netta’s recent victory in 2018, she previously won it with Izhar Cohen and Alphabeta (Abanibi) in 1978, with Milk and Honey (Hallelujah) in 1979, and with Dana International (Diva) in 1998.
