Israel has been one of the protagonists of Eurovision. The armed conflict against Gaza, which has claimed the lives of thousands of innocent people, has taken its toll on Eden Golan, an Israeli representative. He has practically been a plague for both the Eurofans and the rest of the delegations.
Some countries have vehemently expressed their rejection of Israel, such as Ireland, Portugal, Lithuania and the Netherlands. This last country, whose representative was expelled for having inappropriate behavior with a worker, was one of the harshest in its rejection.
Belgium was another of the countries that boycotted Israel. Flemish public television decided not to broadcast Eden Golan’s performance in the second semi-final. They believed that it was not appropriate to give visibility to Israel: “We condemn the violations of the state of Israel in Gaza. Israel is destroying press freedom. That is why we temporarily interrupted the broadcast.”
The same thing happened in the final. Belgian television decided to boycott Golan’s performance again, projecting exactly the same message of support for Gaza. Therefore, Belgian Eurofans, at least on this public television, were left without seeing Israel on two occasions.
However, this gesture against the Israeli delegation was not reciprocated at the time of voting. In view of the results, all the rejection against Israel by the delegations and the Malmö Arena did not have the same following in homes around the world: Eden Golan swept the televoting. and 15 countries gave it the highest score, including Spain
Precisely, the Belgian professional jury, made up by public television, awarded Israel’s performance with 5 points, a not inconsiderable figure, taking into account that Golan played for the experts. Only professionals from Norway, Germany and Cyprus gave more to Israel with 8 points each.