Israel's participation in Eurovision under threat due to KAN's privatization

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s bill proposal to privatize the Public Broadcasting Corporation, more commonly known as KAN, would almost certainly lead to its exclusion from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), barring Israel from future participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, the EBU’s communications team said on Tuesday.

Karhi’s office did not respond to several requests for comment by The Jerusalem Post by press time Tuesday.

The Eurovision Song Contest is an international song competition organized annually by the EBU, in which each participating country submits an original song to be performed live and transmitted to national broadcasters worldwide.

It is only open to public service broadcasters that are members of the EBU and is considered an important global cultural event.

According to the EBU, approximately 163 million viewers tuned in to watch the 2024 event in Sweden, and votes were cast from 156 countries.

The 2025 contest will take place in Basel, Switzerland, between May 13 and May 17. Israel appeared on the list of participating countries published in December, but the EBU’s response to the aforementioned query indicated this could change if Karhi’s bill passes into law.

It passed the preliminary Knesset vote on November 27. The EBU issued a statement three days earlier expressing “deep concern” over the bill.

The statement quoted Deputy Attorney-General Avital Sompolinsky, who expressed “serious concern that the proposal was also motivated by the desire to stop the corporation’s broadcasts due to the content it aired,” and said that it “joins a series of proposals being advanced at this time that threaten the corporation’s (KAN’s) independence and ability to fulfill its public roles.”

Noel Curran, the EBU’s director general, was quoted as saying, “Public service broadcasting in Israel is under sustained political attack, facing threats that not only jeopardize its independence but its very existence in the future.”

"Closing the corporation is a gift to BDS,” said Eran Cicurel, editor of the international news desk on Kan Reshet Bet radio. “For an entire year, our enemies have tried to fight Israel's right to participate in Eurovision, and now Karhi is doing their job for them by removing Israel from Eurovision?”

Eurovision a 'critical arena for Israeli advocacy,' KAN editor says 

“Closing the corporation is a gift to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement,” Eran Cicurel, the editor of the international news desk on KAN Reshet Bet radio said.

“For an entire year, our enemies have tried to fight Israel’s right to participate in the Eurovision. But now, Karhi is doing their job for them by removing Israel from Eurovision,” he remarked.

“The song contest has long been more than just a musical event; it is a critical arena for Israeli advocacy,” Cicurel continued.

“It’s a way to assert our presence on a continent that expelled us 80 years ago and is trying to do it again today through radical left-wing organizations. Does Karhi really want to give the radical Left in Europe this prize? Because that’s exactly what he’s doing,” Cicurel said.

The bill’s preamble states, “The Public Broadcasting Corporation’s budget comprises two sources: A government budget fixed by law and linked to the Consumer Price Index, and a budget based on collecting a vehicle radio fee.

According to Cicurel, “This budget amounts to NIS 800 million. This is a very high sum, and even those who believe in the importance of public broadcasting are taken aback by its size.”

In an age of multi-channel television and widely accessible Internet, “the claim that public broadcasting is needed in order to respond to the multiculturalism that exists in Israel is no longer relevant,” the bill’s authors wrote.

However, according to a post on X/Twitter by Cicurel, most countries with approximately 10 million citizens had a higher budget for their public broadcasting corporations. These included Austria, Sweden, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Only Portugal had a slightly smaller budget than Israel’s.

The Knesset’s Economic Affairs Committee will convene on Wednesday to discuss Karhi’s policies regarding KAN, with the minister in attendance.

At issue will be the fact that Karhi refused to extend the tenure of some of KAN’s executive committee members, effectively paralyzing it.

The committee will also likely address other bills being advanced by Karhi, such as a bill to increase government involvement in the rating measuring mechanism.

As for the privatization bill, it stipulates that KAN’s executive council will first have to present to the communications minister, the finance minister, and the governmental regulator of commercial broadcasting (the Second Authority for Television and Radio) a list of the corporation’s assets.

Under the bill, within a year of receiving the list, the authority will publish a tender to select a licensee for television broadcasts.

Six months after that, the Second Authority for Television and Radio will announce its decision on the winner of the tender. If no winner is chosen, “the Public Broadcasting Corporation will cease to broadcast and will cease all activity connected to broadcasting within two years of this law coming into effect.”

As far as radio is concerned, under the bill, all of KAN’s radio broadcasts will cease within two years of the bill becoming law, apart from the Reshet Bet broadcasts (mainly news and current affairs).

Within a year of receiving the list of assets, the authority will publish a bid price for a national radio broadcasting licensee for that radio station. The bill states that the licensee will be allowed to broadcast advertisements, sponsorships, and public service announcements.

The bill was identical to another proposed by Karhi in the past but was officially proposed back then by MK Tally Gotliv (Likud), to circumvent the legal review that is necessary for any government legislation.

As a minister, Karhi cannot propose private legislation.