The 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest was the tensest in history. This was due to the controversy surrounding Israel’s participation in the competition. Russia was excluded two years ago for waging open war and murdering civilians. Before Yugoslavia collapsed, it was excluded from the competition under UN sanctions imposed because of the Balkan wars. More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel’s war on Palestine began last October. Israel’s attack is in retaliation for the Hamas terrorist attack that killed 1,139 people. Despite this, the EBU stressed that Eurovision is an apolitical event and banned the bringing of Palestinian flags to the event venue.
Eurovision 2024. The Israeli delegation broke the competition rules, but also Swedish law
The injustice was met with reaction from both the musicians performing on stage, who smuggled symbols of support for Palestine onto the stage, and the fans of the event. Before the second semi-finals and the final, protesters took to the streets of Malmo and strongly criticized the European Broadcasting Union for the decisions made. Although there was a ban on Palestinian flags in the Malmo arena, the crowd expressed their dissatisfaction with the situation in other ways. During the final, Israel’s performance was booed and booed from the first to the last second, as was every appearance of EBU representatives on screen.
Although the Polish representative at Eurovision 2024 did not make it to the final, after returning to the country she was asked by journalists about the tense atmosphere during the competition. In an interview with Pomponik, the artist told how the Israeli delegation behaved during the event. – I can only say that the media and the Israeli delegation strongly harassed and provoked us, all artists. I was perhaps a bit lucky in that I did not take part in the semi-final in which Israel took part. It didn’t affect me directly, but it did affect artists close to me. I can’t speak on behalf of anyone else, it’s just that these were unpleasant situations that were rude and inappropriate, said the singer.
The Israeli delegation recorded the Dutch representative without his consent
Luna’s words are confirmed by recordings that have started to appear online. As we read on wiwibloggs.com, an independent website entirely devoted to the Eurovision Song Contest, the Israeli delegation and journalists from KAN (Israeli broadcaster) “harassed” the competition participants and recorded them without their consent. Recording private conversations when you are not the participant or accessing such recordings without permission is against the law in Sweden.
Irregularities in the behavior of the Israeli delegation were highlighted by the Israel Break Rules profile on the X website. One of the recordings shows Keren Peles, the author of the lyrics to “Hurricane”, Israel’s competition song, recording Joost Klein without his consent. The Dutch representative was disqualified just before the final. In the video, the author herself admits that the artist did not want to be immortalized in the material. “The representative of the Netherlands does not like us and asked not to take his photo,” we read. Despite this, the Israeli delegation surreptitiously took close-ups of Joost’s face backstage at the competition.
Bambie Thug: Israeli TV incited violence against me
Moreover, during the KAN broadcast of the first semi-final, Israeli commentators humiliated the Irish representative and even called on their viewers to throw curses and profanities at Bamba Thug. As reported by the Daily Mail, the Irish singer told journalists at the press center that KAN “called for violence against her several times.” In her Instagram story, the artist emphasized that the behavior of Israeli journalists had been reported to the EBU. The European Broadcasting Union agreed that the competition rules had been violated, but no official statement was issued and no one faced any consequences for breaking the rules.
In an interview after the Eurovision grand final, Bambie sharply criticized the EBU. – I am very proud of Nemo’s victory. I’m proud that everyone who fought this shit behind the scenes, which was difficult and terrible for us, was in the top ten – emphasized the artist. – I will also add that we are Eurovision. EBU is not Eurovision. F**k EBU.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
