Will Israel get kicked out of Eurovision? Row over lyrics amid boycott calls
The Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, has said he is helping to solve a disagreement over a song lyric by Israel in the Eurovision song contest, as calls grow for the country to be thrown out of the competition over the war in Gaza.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises Eurovision, said it is scrutinising Israel’s entry, “October Rain”, sung by contestant Eden Golan, which media reports suggest appeared to reference the 7 October Hamas attacks.
Israel threatened last week to withdraw from the contest, which will be held in May in Malmö, Sweden, if the EBU rejected the lyrics to “October Rain”, with officials denying the song is political.
It comes as the EBU resists calls for Israel to be excluded from Eurovision as it wages war in Gaza, with some pointing out that Russia has been disqualified since its invasion of Ukraine.
What is the dispute about?
The Israel Hayom newspaper reported “October Rain” includes lyrics such as, “There’s no air left to breathe” and, “They were all good children, each one of them” – apparent references to victims in southern Israel as Hamas gunmen carried out their killing and kidnapping spree.
The song also contains a reference to “flowers”, which is military code for war fatalities, according to the Israel Hayom free daily newspaper.
A source at Israel’s national broadcaster Kan, which sponsors the Israeli entry, confirmed to Reuters that the leaked lyrics were accurate.
The EBU said it is “in the process of scrutinising the lyrics”, adding: “If a song is deemed unacceptable for any reason, broadcasters are then given the opportunity to submit a new song or new lyrics, as per the rules of the contest.”
Eurovision bills itself as a non-political event and can disqualify contestants deemed to have breached that rule.
How has Israel responded?
Mr Herzog said he was “trying to help” as much as he could to ensure Israel remains in the competition, the Israel news site Ynet reported on Sunday. “I think it’s important for Israel to appear in Eurovision, and this is also a statement because there are haters who try to drive us off every stage,” he said.
“We need to have dialogue and more dialogue, to be smart and not just to be right.”
Israeli culture minister Miki Zohar said in a post on X on Wednesday that any decision to disqualify “October Rain” would be “scandalous”.
He denied that the song is political, saying it “gives voice to the feelings of the people and the country nowadays”.
Kan said it was “in dialogue” with the EBU about the issue, but stated that the broadcaster has “no intention to replace the song”.
“Meaning, if it is not approved by the European Broadcasting Union, Israel will not be able to participate in the competition,” it added in a statement on Thursday.
Will Israel be disqualified?
The EBU is facing musicians’ and public pressure to boycott the four-time contest winner over its military campaign in Gaza.
In Sweden, more than 1,000 musicians, including pop star Robyn, wrote an open letter to the EBU last month saying it is “exhibiting a remarkable double standard” in the face of the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.
They drew a comparison to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying the EBU chose to exclude the country from the competition as a result of the war, and “in 2021 member companies from Belarus were denied entry to the competition because the country violated the EBU’s press freedom rules”.
More than 1,500 Finnish musicians and industry professionals signed a petition calling for Israel to be banned from the contest over the ongoing war in Gaza, and suggested Finland’s public broadcaster, Yle, should boycott the show if it is not.
“Yle was among the first to demand the banning of Russia from the 2022 contest and we expect the same active defending of values from Yle now as well,” the peition read.
In December, Iceland’s Association of Composers and Lyricists published a statement saying that Israel’s war in Gaza made the country incompatible with an event “characterised by joy and optimism”.
The EBU director general, Noel Curran, said Eurovision “is not a contest between governments” as he confirmed Israel will remain in the competition.
Addressing comparisons to Russia, he said: “The Russian broadcasters themselves were suspended from the EBU due to their persistent breaches of membership obligations and the violation of public service values.
“The relationship between Kan and the Israeli government is fundamentally different to the relationship that exists between those Russian members and the state, with the Israeli government in recent years threatening to close down the broadcaster.”
