Eurovision Song Contest – ESC with or without Israel?

After the Austrian JJ won this year’s ESC in Basel, he said: “I would like the Eurovision Song Contest to take place in Vienna next year.” Then he pushed after: “Without Israel.” This addition has strength to blow up the original idea of ​​the ESC: “United in Music”.

It was the Swiss Marcel Bezençon, chairman of the program commission of the European Radio Union (EBU), who had the idea for the “Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne”. The first competition took place in Switzerland as early as 1956. The EBU was founded in 1950 to promote technical innovations on radio. Her first major performance was the live broadcast of Elisabeth II’s crowning glory in 1953. The acquired know-how flowed into the song contest.

Nowadays, the EBU 68 broadcasters from 56 countries in Europe, North Africa and Near East. Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon also include, but only Morocco took part in the ESC in 1980. The boycott of the other countries is probably related to Israel’s participation, which has been there since 1973.

Over the years, the ESC developed into a self -contained system that processes influences from outside in its very own way. The ESC interpreters rarely become famous outside of this bubble, but within the bubble they are worshiped like religious saints. Only a few like ABBA or Celine Dion made their jump into the global music market.

Most of the time it is the grand finale that the world public is marveling at the ESC paradise birds. The bubble has opened increasingly since the 1990s. In 1997 an openly gay artist appeared for the first time with the Icelander Paul Oscar. Since then, the ESC has blossomed to the avant -garde queer visibility. The Israeli transperson Dana International won in 1998 with its song “Diva” and paved its way for other queer winners such as the Austrian Dragqueen Conchita Wurst (2014), the non-binary Swiss person Nemo (2024) and this year the gays joy.

With Benjamin Netanyahus’ return to the government in November 2022, the liberal Israel came under pressure. The right-wing authoritarian coalition immediately attacked the public service broadcaster KAN 11, which organizes the ESC preliminary decision. After the terrorist attack of Hamas on October 7, 2023 with over 1200 deaths, everything changed. Israel’s military struck hard – with around 53,000 deaths in Gaza so far. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu due to alleged war crimes. Meanwhile, Hamas supporters worldwide celebrated the terrorist contest.

Instead of showing solidarity with the liberal scene in Israel, some EBU members of Israel called for exclusion from the ESC. The Israeli participant Eden Golan was violated in 2024 at the contest in Malmö. The current Israeli ESC representative Yuval Raphael was whistled in Basel and threatened with gestures. Under the motto “Escalate for Palestine”, even an entire campaign against them was formed. The previous year’s winner Nemo, together with around 70 ex-participants, also demanded the exclusion of Israel. And when Raphael rose second in the overall ranking in the final through the audience voting, Spain and other EBU members doubted whether the right matters had received. The fact that Raphael had narrowly escaped death at the Hamas massacre at the Nova Festival because she had hidden under corpse did not matter.

In the already mentioned interview, ESC winner JJ referred to the exclusion of Israel’s exclusion on the exclusion of Russia that has already been made because of his war against Ukraine. “Both countries are aggressors,” said JJ. “They both provoked a war.” He later withdraw this outrageous statement, but it shows where his thinking comes from.

In 2024 in Berlin, in addition to the official parade, Christopher Street Day, which was closely connected to the ESC Bubble, there was also the counter event “Internationalist Queer Pride”, which described itself as an anti-colonial, anti-racist and anti-capitalist. A handful of activists, dressed in T-shirts and stolas with the black and white Palestine pattern, danced for “freedom for Palestine” chants, partly also in Kufiyas as a bandeau tops or in bound skirts, combined with mesh tights.

The Palestine Inlay Movement is characterized by the theorem of post -colonial theory, which is represented, for example, by the queer philosopher Judith Butler. This is the Zionist colony, while Islamist groups and parties such as Hamas are regarded as an anti -colonial liberation movements. The post -colonial activists seem to have escaped the fact that Hamas threatens and persecuted the queer community in Gaza. The fact is that the liberal Israeli milieu for queer Palestinians is a safe harbor. And it is precisely this milieu that is banged by the Netanyahu government. The fact that the gay Israeli soldier Yoav Atzmoni could be photographed with the rainbow flag on a completely destroyed battlefield in Gaza was not only received positively among queer people. The LGBTQ community could not serve as a justification for Israel’s military endeavors, criticized the Lebanese musician Hamed Sinno. The campaign is “pinkwashing”.

So things are more complicated than the dichotomic worldview of some ESC participants and fans allows. It would be human to sharpen the senses for the complexity of the situation and not to confuse singers like Yuval Raphael with the Netanyahu government.