When I first moved to England for university, I took a course on the European Union. I remember my professor’s opening gambit was telling us that if we wanted to know how different countries felt about each other, we had to watch Eurovision. So like any good student, I sat down for my first Eurovision song contest in May 2016. Just a month before the UK voted to leave the EU, I watched as Joe and Jake placed a humiliating 24th out of 26 entries. Safe to say, I learned my lesson that evening.
After that, Eurovision became a sacred viewing tradition among me and my friends – one that I must now give up. Instead of watching Eurovision this year, I will be joining the boycott of the song contest.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises the contest, has given Israel the green light to compete. The EBU’s outrageous decision flies in the face of everything the song contest is designed to represent: peace, unity and cooperation. One in 20 people who were living in Gaza a year ago are now either dead, injured or missing owing to the actions of the Israeli state. How can a country whose assault on Gaza has so far claimed more than 30,000 lives be allowed to compete?
Israel’s participation in this year’s contest exposes the double standards and glaring hypocrisy embedded in the EBU’s opaque processes for defining what counts as “political”. Just one day after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, the EBU banned Russian participation, stating that “in light of the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine, the inclusion of a Russian entry … would bring the competition into disrepute.”
For months, the EBU has been under increasing pressure to bar Israel from competing this year. Musicians from Finland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark and even Sweden (this year’s host country) have all signed open letters urging their respective national broadcasters to push for Israel to be banned. Iceland has also indicated it could withdraw from the contest entirely given the circumstances. Elsewhere, an online petition started in December aimed at the EBU’s director general has garnered almost 50,000 signatures.
When the lyrics from Israel’s initial entry, October Rain, leaked in February, it looked as if – for the briefest moment – the EBU would refuse Israel a place. The EBU rejected the ballad as its verses seemingly contained references to the 7 October massacre by Hamas (which has been used by the Israeli government to justify the continuing assault in Gaza) and consequently breached Eurovision’s rules on political neutrality.
At first, Kan, Israel’s state broadcaster, was defiant and refused the EBU’s request to change the lyrics. The standoff was only broken when Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, intervened to work with Kan on changing the lyrics to suit Eurovision’s criteria. Now entitled Hurricane, the song has been approved by the EBU and so Israel will be in the competition this year. Though it’s surely mere coincidence that Hurricane rhymes with October Rain.
While the EBU has put out statements trying to clarify why it treats Russia and Israel differently, the fact remains that the EBU has stayed painfully silent on the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. For many Eurovision fans, myself included, this isn’t just a missed opportunity. The EBU had an opportunity to step towards righting the contest’s historical wrongs. At the 2019 competition in Tel Aviv, Eurovision fined Iceland’s broadcaster after Hatari, the Icelandic entry, waved a Palestinian flag during the broadcast. The EBU also censored the band’s protest in the official DVD recording of the contest.
There is no moral or ethical way to watch Eurovision this year. No amount of mental gymnastics in my head can see it make sense. A boycott is the only option, and we must also go further. When Israel hosted Eurovision in 2019, an alternative Globalvision was organised by Palestinians in London, Dublin, Ramallah and Haifa on the same day to raise awareness of the occupation, but also to highlight “the original values of Eurovision, which is inclusion and diversity”.
I hope that in the run-up to 11 May, these alternative Eurovision events will return and can be a place where we channel our energy and support. Venues that were planning on live screening the finale should instead consider hosting fundraising events for organisations like Medical Aid for Palestinians. Silence on this humanitarian crisis should be viewed as complicity – our actions matter more than ever.
For all of Eurovision’s pontificating about its apolitical nature, the contest has always been governed by political division and questions of inclusion and exclusion. Nowhere has that been clearer than in the incredibly moving shows and songs of support and solidarity for Ukraine over the past two years. Given Eurovision’s record, it’s hard to believe this year’s broadcast will allow any similar signs of support for Palestine.
The reality we are in is that both Russia and Israel are engaged in illegal invasions of other territories. Yet only one of them has been given the chance to perform on the world stage with more than 160 million viewers. Why is it that the value of “unity in music” only stretches to Ukraine? If we as Eurovision fans want to honour the competition’s spirit of peace and cooperation, we have no choice but to boycott.
Jeffrey Ingold is a freelance journalist covering LGBTQ+ issues, music and culture
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