Citing Gaza war crimes, Iceland’s foreign minister said Israel’s inclusion in Eurovision was ‘strange and unnatural,’ stopping short of calling for a boycott. Spain and Slovenia have also urged a union-wide debate
Iceland’s public broadcaster, RÚV, has joined Slovenia and Spain in publicly opposing Israel’s participation in the Eurovision song contest.
The broadcaster expressed its opposition after Iceland’s foreign minister, Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir, made a statement on the issue.
She told the Icelandic paper Visir that she didn’t think Israel should participate in the contest due to its operations in Gaza. “As an ordinary citizen, I find the matter strange and unnatural that Israel is permitted to participate in the Eurovision in light of its war crimes. And basically, ethnic cleansing has taken place in recent weeks and months in Gaza,” the minister wrote.
Spanish broadcaster RTVE called on the broadcast union two weeks ago to hold a “debate” among the participating broadcasters regarding Israel’s appearance in the contest. Gunnarsdottir also asserts that such a decision should be made by union members. “There’s an additional issue,” she said. “It involves a decision of European television broadcasters in which Iceland has the right to participate, through its national broadcaster.”
On the other hand, Gunnarsdottir did not advocate boycotting the contest. “I think that if it is decided to hold the contest, Iceland should participate,” she said. “Iceland should send its delegation and not boycott Eurovision, but I do think that our country should consider the matter and lobby within the European Broadcasting Union regarding Israel’s participation.”
Slovenia’s broadcaster, RTVSLO, publicly objected to Israel’s participation last week. In a meeting with Slovenia’s representative to Eurovision, the head of the delegation said that that Slovenia had submitted its objection to the broadcast union when asked about her position regarding Israel’s participation.
“My stance regarding participants hasn’t changed at all since last year, and I remain firm in the appeal I made to the EBU on behalf of RTVSLO,” she said, as reported by Eurovisionfun.com. “I asked and asked again for clarification: why are some members more equal than others? Of course, I’m referring to the unequal treatment of Russia and Israel. And to the fact that member states should have the opportunity to jointly and transparently decide on all essential matters, including the potential exclusion of Israel.”
Despite the protests, Eurovision’s new director, Martin Green, said in an interview on the EuroVerse podcast that he had no intention of preventing Israel’s participation in the contest.
“Countries don’t compete in Eurovision, public service broadcasters do,” he said. “I fundamentally believe that major events in sports culture exist to show the world how it could be rather than it is.”
Israeli channel Kan 11 reported in February that singer and composer Offir Cohen, who wrote Eyal Golan and Itay Levi’s song “Hatunat Hashana,” submitted a warning letter to the European Broadcast Union and to STEF, the Composers Rights Society of Iceland, alleging plagiarism. He claims that the melody of “Róa” is identical to that of “Hatuna Hashana” and was copied without permission.