Israel’s Kan rejects allegation of fraud in Eurovision vote as ‘non-collegial’ and counterfactual

Israel’s Kan public broadcaster says the allegation that its Eurovision contestant, Yuval Raphael, did not fairly win the competition’s public vote is “irrelevant, non-collegial and does not align with the facts.”

“We are very proud of the achievement of Yuval Raphael and the Israeli song, ‘New Day Will Rise,’ at the Eurovision in Switzerland,” says Kan in a statement, five days after Raphael won second place in the competition and first in the popular vote. The Israeli delegation “followed all the rules of the competition and acted respectfully and collegiately to all the other delegations and artists.”

Kan continues that “any hint to the contrary is irrelevant, non-collegial and above all does not align with the facts — the public in Europe loves Yuval and the Israeli song,” adding that it “congratulates Austria with all its heart” for winning the contest.

The European Broadcasting Union also dismissed claims that there was any voter fraud, saying that all results were “checked and verified by a huge team” as well as an “independent compliance monitor.” Some countries that expressed dismay at the vote pointed to the ability to vote 20 times, something encouraged by the EBU for more than a decade, and an Israeli ad campaign for Raphael, something the EBU said does not break any rules.

Last night, Austria’s JJ told a Spanish newspaper that he hopes Israel will not be allowed to compete in the contest next year and said that the Eurovision “needs to make changes to the voting system,” including providing “greater transparency.”