Singing Amidst the Shadows of War: the Controversies Surrounding Eurovision

By Clare Tweed

The once internationally adored competition that was created to provide unity in Europe now finds itself surrounded by controversy and scrutiny after its failure to remove Israel as contestants, and its failure to protect artists involved this year. Rather than removing Israel, who are currently being investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for violations of international humanitarian law violations, they instead opted for the approach of providing the country with a platform. Eurovision’s determination to stick to a ‘non-political stance’ instead proved the opposite.

The Eurovision competition boasted a record-breaking engagement of 162 million viewers in 2023 over three live shows and across 38 public service media markets in 2023. However, this year many called for a boycott of the competition as they refused to remove Israel amid their deadly actions in Palestine. Many have accused Israel, who have now killed an estimated 40,000 Palestinians (majority being women and children) since October 2023, of committing a genocide in Palestine, notably by UN expert Francesca Albanese. Numerous countries have condemned Israel’s unhumanitarian actions, including those participating in the competition.

The EBU (owners and operators of Eurovision) explained their reasoning behind not banning Israel was due to their ‘non-political stance’ within the competition. But this directly contradicts their stance in 2022 when they excluded Russia from the competition due to their invasion of Ukraine. Throughout the competition that year Ukrainian flags were seen everywhere, and many artists participating were able to show their support for the country. This was directly contradicted this year as the EBU vowed, even before the competition took place, that they reserve the right to remove any Palestinian flags or pro-Palestinian symbols. This would appear that the EBU’s intentions were to provide Israel with a platform and ignore the heinous actions they have committed. There were other concerns from the public after Israel attempted to submit a song for Eurovision not once, but twice, both being rejected for being too political. For many this solidified Israel’s intentions with their participation in the contest.

If Israel’s involvement in Eurovision before it took place wasn’t controversial enough, the conduct of their delegates/ broadcasters towards other contestants was another thing the EBU has failed to address yet. Irish Eurovision entry, Bambi’s Thug, who is outspokenly pro-Palestine, has expressed their views following the commencement of the competition, claiming they had a horrible experience during their time at the contest. They expressed the failure of Eurovision bosses to support them as they submitted complaints over comments made about them by an Israeli broadcaster. Their team brought their accusation that Kan, the Israeli broadcaster, “incited violence against me twice, three times”, however the EBU did not respond to them. The Israeli broadcaster blatantly broke the rules, but the EBU has not yet made a statement regarding the situation.

On the other hand, they were very quick to disqualify the Netherlands entry for an incident that happened between the semi-final and the final. The Dutch entry, Joost Klein, another outspokenly pro-Palestine contestant, was disqualified following an instance where he allegedly attacked a member of production staff. Dutch broadcaster, AVROTROS, has stated that they complained to the EBU about the “unsafe environment” before he was disqualified. In regard to the incident involving Joost, AVROTROS explained Joost was filmed as he got off stage and had to rush to a greenroom, despite indicating repeatedly that he did not want to be filmed. This wasn’t respected and ignored, hence his movement towards the camera. They state that he did not touch the camera woman. It is understandable that a conclusion had to be reached with regards to this incident, and yet given Israel were not disqualified for harassing other contestants and being investigated by the ICC, this punishment appears rather harsh.

The public outcry surrounding the situation cannot be understated as many protested the competition for its ignorant stance on allowing Israel to compete. Additionally, many called for a boycott of this year to show their distaste for the competition placing harsh rules surrounding the mention of Palestine and allowing Israel to compete. Although the EBU claim Eurovision is a non-political event, their history and premise of the competition cannot equate to this type of stance. A country participating in war or killing of innocent civilians shouldn’t be allowed to participate in a competition that preaches peace. The boycott saw a viewership drop of roughly three million in the UK alone, from the previous year.

Alongside the boycott there were numerous protests surrounding the event and numerous petitions calling for artists to drop out of Eurovision in support for Palestine. It was estimated by police that between 10,000 and 12,000 people gathered in Malmo (the venue) ahead of the semi-final involving Israel. Previous contestants, Käärijä and Alessandra both withdrew from their roles as spokesperson due to the controversies. Loreen, who won the competition last year, was to hand over the trophy to the new winner this year, but she stated that she would not do so if Israel won. The EBU were also criticised by numerous parties, including AVROTROS, for attempting to remove the booing from the live feed by replacing the crowd noises with fake applause, however some of the booing could still be heard. Videos from the audience posted on various social media platforms would demonstrate the booing and ‘free Palestine’ chants that took place during the performance.

As many viewers and lovers of Eurovision have concluded following the controversies this year, the EBU have a lot of work to do to amend the damage they have caused this year, if possible. Many remain hopeful that they act following the complaints put in by numerous parties and delay no further.

The situation in Palestine and how to help:

The reality of the situation is incredibly dark as while this competition was going on, Israel continued their deadly attack on Rafah, an area they promised would be a safe place for Palestinians. Those Palestinian people are now left with no further to go and in the middle of a humanitarian crisis. Organisations such as MAP (Medical Aid for Palestinians), UN Crisis Relief, UNICEF, and many others are providing aid to those in Palestine.

Edited by Tiffany Murnaghan