Since 1973, Israel has won the Eurovision Song Contest four times. At the last competition in May, the Israeli singer Yuval Raphael finished in second place.
Yet due to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and the outrage over the humanitarian crisis there, the public broadcasters of Ireland and the Netherlands recently announced that they will boycott next year’s show in Vienna if Israel is allowed to participate.
Spain, Slovenia and Iceland have made similar threats to pull out of this popular annual event, which attracts participants from almost 40 countries and draws tens of millions of viewers.
The European Broadcasting Union, its sponsor, will address this explosive issue at its general assembly in early November.
Until now, the European Broadcasting Union has rejected pressure to exclude Israel. But with passions running high over the nearly two-year-old war in Gaza, Israel’s continued participation in Eurovision may well be in jeopardy.
It should not be.
As Germany’s Minister of Culture Wolfram Weimer has correctly pointed out, Eurovision should be based on “the principle that artists are judged on their art and not on their nationality. The culture of cancellation is not the solution. The solution is diversity and cohesion.”
Weimer added that, since Eurovision was born on “the ruins” of World War II, it should not become “a scene of exclusion.”
Austria’s foreign minister, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, is equally concerned that a boycott of Israel would sow division and run counter to Eurovision’s guiding spirit.
“Such a rift would only deepen the discord and preclude opportunities for important dialogue between artists and the public — without improving the situation on the ground in Israel and Gaza,” she wrote in a letter to the European Broadcasting Union. “Excluding Israel … or boycotting the event would neither alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza nor contribute to a sustainable political solution.”
Weimer and Meinl-Reisinger are both right.
Politics has no place in culture, and Eurovision should under no circumstances accede to unreasonable demands to exclude Israel, which has become increasingly isolated since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
Israel should do everything in its power to combat this worrisome trend. Regrettably, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck the wrong note last week when he said that, in the face of its growing isolation, Israel might be required to build a self-reliant economy with “autarkic characteristics.” Israel, he added, could become a “super Sparta.”
As the Israel Business Forum noted, Netanyahu’s approach could endanger Israel’s very existence.
Israel’s just war in Gaza is no reason for the Israeli government to retreat into isolation. Israel is not an island onto itself and should vigorously challenge malevolent attempts to isolate it as a pariah state.