The Eurovision organization is holding an emergency meeting this afternoon due to the reactions it has generated the disqualification of the representative of the Netherlands, Joost Klein, due to an investigation into alleged threats by the Swedish police. Likewise, television Israel has confirmed that the organization of the contest has moved them to a room apart fromthe rest of the delegations.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 is experiencing hours of high tension before its celebration tonight. The morning began with the confirmation by the European Broadcasting Union of the elimination of the competition of the Dutch representative, Joost Klein, who was reported for threats to an EBU worker.

Furthermore, Norwegian media point out that four countries (the United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland and Portugal) They considered withdrawing from the competition last night. The four participants are still in competition at this time.

This is how the controversy with the Netherlands began

As indicated by the organization, the situation occurred after the semifinal last Thursdays, where the Netherlands qualified for the final. After that, the incident that led to his disqualification occurred. “We maintain a zero-tolerance policy toward inappropriate behavior at our event and are committed to providing a safe environment for all of our staff,” the statement reads.

Dutch television (AVROTROS, which hosted the festival three editions ago and whose head of delegation, Twan van de Nieuwenhuijzen, was show director for the last three festivals); has pointed out that This has been a “disproportionate” decision.

“We have taken note of the disqualification by the EBU. AVROTROS finds this disqualification disproportionate and is shocked by the decision,” they noted in a post on social networks. In a subsequent statement they explained that Klein informed the organization that he did not want to be recorded after the semifinal, but a camera approached him, and he ended up making a threatening gesture at the operator.

And the station adds: “Yesterday and today we consulted extensively with the EBU and We proposed several solutions. However, the EBU has decided to disqualify Joost Klein. AVROTROS considers that this penalty is very harsh and disproportionate. “We defend good manners, we do not want any misunderstanding about that, but from our point of view, an exclusion is not proportional to this incident.”

For the moment, the Netherlands will be able to vote in the final and the vote of its jury – exercised during last night’s rehearsal – is valid. In fact, during the rehearsal for the final, he connected with the country’s spokesperson, the youtuber NikkieTutorials, who said: “I had no idea that we could continue voting, to be honest,” he added, and called for “music unites us” and “paths open for a deeper dialogue.”

Israel, moved to another room

Israeli television, Kan, has confirmed on social media that the European Broadcasting Union has asked them to move to a different room from the rest of the delegations. Although there is no official reason for this change, throughout the week, members of different delegations have reported that members of the Israeli delegation were persecuting them. to record them after they made some gesture related to Palestine.

This situation has also occurred in the press center, where yesterday afternoon the Spanish journalist Juanma Fernández reported that four people accredited by the Israeli delegation tried to intimidate him after having shouted ‘Free Palestine’ after Eden Golan’s essay.

In addition, several comments have also been widely commented on by members of the Israeli delegation, especially by the composer of ‘Hurricane’, Keren Peles, who has disqualified several of this year’s artists on her social networks, such as representative of Ireland, Bambie Thug; the Dutch, Joost Klein, or the Greek Marina Satti. Additionally, Eden Golan’s stylist, Itay Bezaleli, had to delete a video in which he recorded Thug without her permission and called her a “monster.”

The participant most openly opposed to the actions of the Israeli delegation is Bambie Thug, who represents Ireland with ‘Doomsday Blue’ and who has informed the EBU of the comments made by Israeli commentators during the postcard of her performance: “I I like to speak negatively about Israel, but we’ll talk about that later.