From the Liveblog of
Thursday, February 15, 2024
Eurovision rejects call to ban Israel over Gaza war
Israel can compete in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, organizers say, despite calls for it to be excluded over the Gaza war like Russia was after invading Ukraine.
Petitions have been circulating calling for Israel to be kicked out of the world’s biggest live music event, which is being held in Malmo, Sweden, in May.
The European Broadcasting Union says it had conducted a review and decided Israel could participate in the kitsch annual pop extravaganza.
“The Eurovision Song Contest is a non-political music event and a competition between public service broadcasters who are members of the EBU. It is not a contest between governments,” EBU director general Noel Curran says in a statement.
“Our governing bodies… did review the participants list for the 2024 contest and agreed that the Israeli public broadcaster KAN met all the competition rules for this year and can participate, as it has for the past 50 years.”
Israel is to take part in the second semifinal on May 9, from which 10 of the 16 contenders will progress to the grand final on May 11.
Eden Golan, 20, who grew up in Russia, will represent Israel after winning a domestic contest. Her song has yet to be announced.
The Times of Israel Community.