Amid Israel-Hamas war, Israel's Eurovision performance politicized

Israeli contestants have performed at Eurovision a number of times while rockets fell in recent years, and while we all hope that the war will be over by the time the Eurovision final rolls around in May, the reality is that this may be the case again. But the important point to remember is that despite calls for Israel to be banned, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the body that runs Eurovision, has voiced clear support for Israel’s participation.

While there have been calls to ban Israel in past years, these voices have gotten stronger since the Hamas massacre on October 7 and the subsequent outbreak of war. Earlier this month, Finnish and Icelandic artists, as well as protesters in Norway, called for a ban.

Over 1,400 Finnish artists joined Icelandic music industry professionals in a petition, which read, in part, “It is not in accordance with our values that a country that commits war crimes and continues a military occupation is given a public stage to polish its image in the name of music.”

Among these artists was Axel Ehnström, who represented Finland at Eurovision in 2011. The signatories said that if Israel is allowed to take part, the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) should decline to participate.

But the EBU already released a statement in 2023 saying, “The Eurovision Song Contest is a competition for public broadcasters from all over Europe and the Middle East. It is a contest for broadcasters – not for governments – and the Israeli public broadcaster has been participating in the contest for 50 years.” It has not wavered from this stance.

Despite the controversy, Israel is still placing high in the preliminary betting charts, a widely watched measure of likely success in the competition. As of December 24, according to World.com’s betting grid, Israel was likely to come in first. Israel has since dropped to fifth place out of 37 in the World.com averages, not as good but still respectable.

The meaning behind the competition

Eurovision has always loomed large in the Israeli cultural landscape because it was one of the first international arenas in which Israel excelled. Eurovision was started in the wake of World War II to encourage peaceful competition among nations and has blossomed into a glittery extravaganza, with millions around the world watching it on television and voting for the winner. Israel began taking part in Eurovision in 1973, since it would not have been welcomed in a Middle Eastern regional song contest. It took home the top prize in 1978 and 1979 with wins for Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta for the song “A-Ba-Ni-Bi” and Milk and Honey for “Hallelujah,” respectively, and again in 1998 with International’s “Diva.”

While for decades the top prize eluded Israel, Israelis continued to be devoted Eurovision fans, cheering on Israeli contestants. Finally, in 2018, Netta Barzilai became Israel’s fourth Eurovision winner with her rousing rendition of “Toy,” a self-empowerment anthem.

 Last year, Noa Kirel, Israel’s contestant, came in third with her high-energy song, “Unicorn,” and a video of her performance at the finals has received more than 12 million views.

Some social media users, looking for any way to criticize the Jewish state, have recently questioned why Israel takes part in Eurovision at all. Some have been saying that since Israel is not in Europe, it should not take part, although they don’t seem to mind that Australia also sends contestants. Others claim that Israel’s participation proves that all Israelis are European colonizers, ignoring the fact that over 50% of Israelis trace their ancestry back to the Middle East or Africa and that Israel’s 2021 contestant, Eden Alene, is of Ethiopian descent.

THIS YEAR’S Eurovision contestant will be chosen on the N12 Keshet reality show, Kochav Haba (“The Next Star”), while the government broadcaster, Kan 11, sponsors the delegation and broadcasts the contest. While the requirement for Eurovision contestants to perform in their native language was dropped in 1999, Kan has decided that Hebrew lyrics have to be included in this year’s song. A committee will choose the song that the contestant performs, and songwriters have been invited to submit songs. The committee released a statement saying it is listening to all the entries and will choose one that is “the most worthy song to represent Israel in light of the complicated period Israel is experiencing in recent months.”

Back in 2020, before Eurovision was postponed for a year due to the COVID pandemic, Alene was set to perform “Feker Libi,” a song with lyrics in Hebrew, Arabic, and Amharic, as well as English (the language in which most Eurovision contestants perform). Following the postponement, her song was changed to an all-English song, “Set Me Free,” a decision that was criticized in some quarters.

While the required inclusion of Hebrew lyrics is one way that the war has influenced the contest, another is that one of The Next Star contestants, Shaul Greenglick, who appeared on the show in early December, was killed in the fighting in the Gaza Strip. Greenglick, 26, from Ra’anana, an officer in the Nahal Brigade’s 931st Battalion, wore his uniform to perform and sang the song “Blind Bat” by Hanan Ben Ari. The judges were enthusiastic about his performance, and he would have advanced to the next round.

Even before Greenglick’s death, The Next Star series toned down its style in keeping with the war. On Wednesday night’s episode, in which the finalists were assigned to perform duets together, some of the song choices reflected the mood of the war, among them Shalom Hanoch’s “Children of Life” (a song popularized by Arik Einstein’s version) and John Lennon’s “Imagine.” Israeli audiences continue to follow the competition closely, debating the merits of the contestants with great energy on social media.

Even before the war, Israel’s delegation was likely to have had to increase its already high level of security for the contest because Malmo, Sweden, has been known for years for its high level of antisemitism and has even been labeled the antisemitism capital of Sweden and of Europe. Antisemitic incidents there over the past 15 years have included Molotov cocktails being thrown at a Jewish funeral home and large demonstrations at events where Jews and Israelis have taken part. In 2021, the Malmo municipality reported that the schools there were an unsafe environment for Jewish students, who suffered from physical and verbal attacks. It was never going to be easy for Israel to perform there, but now it will be extremely hazardous, both for Israel’s delegation and for Jewish fans.

But no matter how high the risk, the show is set to go on for Israel’s contestant come May.