Kan rebuffs calls to bow out of Eurovision over boycott threats

The director of Israel’s public broadcaster rejects calls for it to drop out of next year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna after several countries threatened to boycott the annual competition if Israel is not barred.

“There is no reason why Israel should not continue to be a significant part of this cultural event, which cannot become political,” says Golan Yochpaz, the CEO of Kan, at an event launching the network’s new content for this fall.

Yochpaz points out that since the current Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation was established in 2017, “Israel is one of the most successful participants in the Eurovision contest — in the past seven years its songs and representatives have finished in 5th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st place.”

His comments are the first public response by Kan to the growing number of countries that have threatened to withdraw from the competition if Israel is allowed to participate, amid widespread global criticism of the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza. So far, the Netherlands and Ireland have said they will not take part if Israel is allowed to, while Spain, Slovenia and Iceland have threatened the same.

According to a report in Ynet yesterday, Eurovision organizers hinted to Kan — Israel’s representative to the European Broadcasting Union that organizes the campy contest — that Israel should either temporarily drop out of the contest or perform under a neutral flag to avoid being barred entirely. Neither Kan nor the EBU confirmed the report.

The EBU held a meeting in London in July in which Israel’s participation next year was discussed, but the union declined to vote on the matter then, pushing off the decision until later this year. The EBU said at the time that it would consult with members and experts before issuing a full report this fall, ahead of the next organization-wide meeting slated for December.