Report: Spain forces vote on Israel’s Eurovision participation at EBU confab

According to a Spanish-language news site, Spain has forced a secret vote on Israel’s Eurovision participation at the European Broadcasting Union general assembly in Geneva.

EBU members are meeting in large part to discuss efforts to oust Israel from the competition, with a number of countries, including Spain, Slovenia, Ireland and Iceland, threatening to back out of the contest if Israel isn’t barred. The EBU had originally called for a vote to be held in November on the issue, but pushed off the decision following the October ceasefire, and revealed a number of reforms last month aimed at avoiding a vote entirely.

The 20-minute news site reports that Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE gathered signatures from at least eight countries requesting that a secret ballot on the issue be held at the meeting, which it says is enough to force a vote.

There is no immediate comment from the EBU or from Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster. Kan sent its director-general, Golan Yochpaz, and attorney Ayala Mizrachi to argue its case, and they reportedly told delegates that the broadcaster has not violated any regulations that would justify removing it from the competition.

According to reports from inside the assembly, Ukraine and Germany argued in favor of Israel staying in the contest, while Slovenia, Spain and Turkey — which is an EBU member but does not compete in Eurovision — called for it to be barred.

Earlier today, German Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer told Reuters that “if the EBU decides that Israel may not participate, Germany should refuse to take part. Israel belongs in the Eurovision Song Contest. There must not be an ESC without Israel.”