why Eurovision doesn’t veto Israel for the war in Gaza like it did with Russia

On February 25, 2022, the world was not ready to notice any news other than the offensive that Vladimir Putin had launched the day before on Ukraine. The war that had just broken out—and that is still open—left no corner in any newspaper to mention something as trivial as that, in less than 24 hours, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) had responded to the invasion with Russia’s suspension of the festival of Eurovision.

Two years later, this celebration of song, coexistence and freedom returns under the motto ‘United by music’. But now, when an EBU member country is waging a bloody war that has already claimed 35,000 lives, many in Europe are wondering why Israel can participate in tonight’s grand final. Despite the invasion of Gaza after the Hamas attacks on October 7, the organization has determined that Israeli public television, Khan, you will be able to continue participating. But why is everyone invited to the party this year? Why doesn’t Israel pay the same price as Russia?

The EBU issued a statement last December in which it justified Israel’s permanence by stating that Eurovision is an “apolitical event and a competition between public broadcasting organizations that are members of the EBU. not a contest between governments“With this principle in its defense, the Reference Group and the Executive Committee of the organization issued a recommendation in which they approved the participation of the Khan in this year’s edition in the Swedish city of Malmö.

Then, the ruling was “consulted” with the national radio stations, but none seemed to oppose it. At least publicly. Swedish public television SVT, this year’s host, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz: “The EBU decides who the participating countries are, and we cooperate”. Other entities disengaged from the debate under the pretext of neutrality: Norway’s NRK declared this month that a boycott of Israel “does not fall within our mandate. We cover conflicts in the Middle East, and if, as a broadcasting company, we took a position on a conflict, we would compromise our integrity. The same SVT and NRK were the third and fourth to demand the expulsion of Russia from the competition in Turin in 2022.

Added to the lack of transparency in decision-making is that the majority of countries participating in Eurovision have governments with favorable positions towards Israel. Several States – see Germany, France, the United Kingdom or even Azerbaijan – are political and commercial allies, so a boycott of Tel Aviv’s participation would have caused unwanted tensions. Government television stations critical of Benjamin Netanyahuas Spanish Radio Television or the Irish RTÉ, have not made public statements at the moment against the decision of the union of European entities.

The EBU hides behind the disagreements between the Khan and the Netanyahu Government as a differentiating element between Israel and Russia: “The relationship is fundamentally different from that between Russian radio and television and the Kremlin,” notes the organization, which says it has suspended to the VGTRK for “persistent breaches of membership obligations and the violation of public service values.” The discrepancies between the Khan and the prime minister are true: Netanyahu was about to close public television in January 2023 to “distribute funds” and favor other platforms, including far-right media that acted as speakers for the prime minister and his Likud party. The project was frustrated shortly after coming to light, in part thanks to protests by the workers themselves.

However, in the statement of February 25, 2022, the EBU did not mention that Russia’s expulsion was due to VGTRK having violated any principles of public media. The only reason for that decision was, according to the document itself, that: “in light of the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine, the inclusion of a Russian entry in this year’s contest would discredit the contest“At that time, the EBU recognized that having a musical number from a country that had invaded another could tarnish the image of Eurovision.

The problem is also monetary

The affinity of several European governments with the State of Israel is evident, and the political power of the EBU resolution should not be underestimated, no matter how much the organization claims otherwise. But there are other forces that keep the Kan among the member radio stations. Unlike Ukraine, only nine EU countries recognize Palestine as a state. Something that could have more weight here is that Palestine neither participates in Eurovision, nor is it a member of the EBU. In fact, Flying its flag has been prohibited since 2016when the organization prohibited several nationalist symbols—such as the Basque ikurriña—from entering the festival grounds.

These factors do not seem to be decisive: Swedish television, for example, has not requested the expulsion of Israel as it did with Russia despite the fact that Stockholm recognizes the Palestinian State. What does seem to tie the EBU to Israel, however, is the economic link of Eurovision to companies in the country. Since 2021, the festival’s biggest sponsor is Moroccanoil, an Israeli-owned cosmetics brand. This year she continues to be the image of Eurovision in Malmö, after having consolidated her presence in the Rotterdam, Turin and Liverpool editions.

According to Luka, director of the specialized media Eurovision Spain“the EBU has somehow sacrificed its corporate image for the benefit of Moroccanoil. [En los últimos años,] In the end you didn’t know how to discern whether it was the Eurovision Song Contest or a Moroccanoil Festival, because the logo of this sponsor monopolized all the spaces,” he declared in an interview on the RNE program ‘El gallo que no cesa’ last month. from January.

By expelling Israel, Eurovision could have faced serious financial problems or the setback of searching for companies willing to invest in a sponsorship to replace that of Moroccanoil. Aside from relations with private Israeli companies, Kan is one of the television stations that contributes the most money to the organization of the event behind the Big Five—made up of Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany. The Israeli public is a great fan of the festival, which had 980,000 spectators in 2023 in a country of just over nine million people according to government censuses.

[RTVE reclama a la UER que vele por la libertad de prensa en la jornada más complicada de Eurovisión]

The conduct of the EBU in recent months has also made it clear that the entity fears a boycott Eurovision of European and international viewers for their decision not to expel Israel. In November, for the first time, the organization He put tickets on sale before the competing countries were known, as we tell in EL ESPAÑOL. When it was confirmed that Israel would still participate in 2024, the seats at Malmö Arena had already been sold out.