by Shimon Samuels and Alex Uberti

Paris, 9 May 2025

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has been blasted over the past weeks, with calls to expel the Israeli candidate at the upcoming Eurovision song contest in Basel, Switzerland.

Last year, it was held in Malmö, Sweden, a city where there have been cases of Jew-hatred, including attacks on the local Rabbi. At the 2024 Eurovision event, among others, Spanish parliamentarians from Podemos, Sumar, leftist and regional nationalist parties called for the boycott of Israeli singer Eden Golan. The latter ended second in the public vote, thanks to the power of her song “Hurricane” and the worldwide solidarity against the disgusting discrimination from spectators present, from several other contestants, and the profusion of death threats online.

Again, this year, members of the Spanish “populist left” – including Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun (affiliated to the Catalan green-leftist party) – co-sponsored a petition with Ireland and Slovenia, to “discuss banning Israel from participating in the Eurovision!”.

Ireland, through the RTÉ broadcaster, demanded that “Israel be disqualified!”. Last year’s “goth gremlin goblin witch” contestant from Ireland tried to scare Israel away, but we have worse nightmares to deal with, considering all the Islamist terrorists, dictators and religious fanatics surrounding us!

And last but not least, Slovenia signed the petition. Its RTVSLO television and radio broadcaster have been, on several occasions, viciously antisemitic.

This petition appears to be tailored to please Hamas and other antisemites. Unfortunately, Spain’s position is no surprise, as the populist left Podemos is part of the governing coalition and has had close relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, thus expressing recurrent bias towards Israel.

Nevertheless, Spain has sent two firefighter planes to save forests particularly around Jerusalem. The causes of these wildfires are being investigated.

Another attack on Eurovision comes through a letter from “Artists for Palestine” claiming “Israel has no right for EBU membership”, repeating the usual accusations of “Apartheid against the Palestinians and Genocide in Gaza!” and drawing a sickening parallel between Russia (that invaded Ukraine to conquer and annex it) and Israel (that was invaded by Hamas from Gaza, and has subsequently waged war against terrorists to recover its kidnapped citizens and secure its borders).

The letter is signed by over 70 former Eurovision performers, demanding that the Israeli singer, and the national broadcaster KAN, be banned. It seems that 30 of these “artists” are from Iceland... whose Foreign Minister even went as far as stating “Israel’s participation is unnatural” [sic!]. They allegedly sent their letter to the ICJ. We would suggest the Court list them as “hate offenders”, considering their avowed prejudice.

This year’s Israeli singer at Eurovision will be 24-year old Yuval Raphael, who played dead at the NOVA Festival on 7 October 2023, while Hamas terrorists were murdering her friends at point-blank range. Her song is appropriately entitled “A New Day Will Arise”.

We exhort the EBU to disregard the bigotry of some, and foster inclusiveness, talent and joy at the Eurovision contest, that will be held in Basel, the city that saw the birth of modern Zionism in 1897. May a new day arise indeed, where hate is defeated by the sense of responsibility and the hope of freedom.

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Dr Shimon Samuels is Emeritus Director for International Relations of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre
Alex Uberti is an independent researcher and consultant

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For further information, contact csw-europe@gmail.com