Explaining Israel's controversial entry into Eurovision this year

Fans of Eurovision will have this date marked on their calendars already, but for everyone else, the 2024 edition of the world's largest musical contest is returning in May. 

Each participating country is represented by one song and they battle it out in a series of performances. Eurovision is immensely popular, with more than 160 million viewers tuning in every year.

Although the contest is mainly for countries inside the European Union, broadcasters outside of the E.U. with membership in the European Broadcasting Union are allowed to participate.

The songs entered have to be apolitical. That became an issue this year when Israel submitted a song called October Rain, which got rejected because organizers felt it openly referred to the Israel-Hamas war. After several changes to the lyrics and a renaming to Hurricane, their entry was accepted.

But there's still a debate about Israel's place in the contest this year.

To talk more about Israel's entry into Eurovision and whether the contest can actually stay apolitical, journalist and Eurovision expert Karen Fricker joins host Elamin Abdelmahmoud on Commotion.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, plus a chat about Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told, about one of Atlanta's most iconic 90s Black street parties, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast on your favourite podcast player.

LISTEN | Today's episode on YouTube:

Elamin: Let's talk about this year's story, the controversy over Israel's song entry for this year's Eurovision. What's the story there?   

Karen: For some background, Israel, against expectations — because we don't think of Israel necessarily as a European country — has been in Eurovision for a long time. It's been involved since 1973. It's competed 45 times. It's won four times. And there's a lot going on around Israel in Eurovision this year. There are debates about whether Israel should be allowed to compete at all in light of the current conflict. There are debates back and forth and we'll talk about that. And then there's been trouble around the song itself because the initial submission was disqualified by the organisers because they said it was too political. 

Elamin: So at a certain point it looked like they were going to drop out. But then the Israeli president intervened. How did that go?

Karen: So the first song, like you said, was called October Rain and the singer's called Eden Golan. And I'll read you some of the lyrics of that initial submission.

Writers of the history stand with me / I'm still wet from this October rain / There's no air left to breathe. And then sung in Hebrew: They were all good children / each one of them. 

So this was interpreted as an overt reference to the Hamas attack on October 7th. And so the organisers said, "We're not a political contest, you can't do that." So the Israeli broadcaster said, "Okay, we're not going to play." But then the president, Isaac Herzog, said, "No, I think we need to be involved at this point in our history. We need to take every opportunity to be on the global stage." So a bunch of stuff goes on. It is still the same melody, but now it has a new title and new lyrics, and the song is called Hurricane and it has been accepted.

Elamin: So Eurovision is run by the Europe Broadcasting Union, and the EBU has rejected the demands for Israel to be removed because of the war in Gaza. What's been the general reaction to having Israel in the competition at all? 

Karen: It is really mixed and really fraught in the Nordic countries and in Ireland in particular. There have been petitions signed by musicians and members of the public saying that it is not appropriate for Israel to be competing because of the war. By contrast, over 100 celebrities including Helen Mirren, Liev Schreiber, Boy George and Gene Simmons all signed a petition saying Israel should compete and that those who are saying that they shouldn't are the ones who are politicising it. So back and forth claims. There have been calls for other countries not to compete, saying if Israel competes, we shouldn't. But nobody has pulled out yet. So the 37 countries that were expected to perform are still expected to perform. I think this is the beginning of a story that's going to continue to roll out, and I think it's going to continue to be contentious up to and through the contest.

Elamin: Israel's cultural and sports minister, Miki Zohar, said that he hopes that  "Eurovision will remain a musical and cultural event and not a political arena." This idea to remain "neutral" is one of the goals of Eurovision. How good is Eurovision, actually, though, at keeping things apolitical

Karen: That's why I find it so fascinating, because it's a song contest, but it's a contest of nations. You vote for Israel. You vote for Ukraine. And as such, that's going to bring the context of what we think and feel about countries. So it's never been just about songs. And that's why I think it continues to endure and why we're talking about it, because it becomes this kind of conduit for larger tensions. 

I mean, Ukraine won in 2022 and it was a landslide victory. And a lot of people understand, including me, that it was a solidarity vote. Especially after the wide scale invasion by Russia. Russia is banned from competing. And the EBU claims that is to uphold the values of Eurovision. But values are political too. So it's complicated. But again it's why it keeps me coming back year after year.

Elamin: Do you think the public is expecting a stance from artists, or should we expect artists to have political messaging in their songs, or is that not so much a part of this? 

Karen: By the rules, you can't get on a Eurovision stage and sing in favour of a political candidate. So where the politics comes in is that things can be slipped in through visual references or through allusions that may or may not be in the lyrics. Also, politics comes in the voting. If Israel competes, I suspect there's going to be a noisy contest and lots of security. And I expect that some artists are going to take the opportunity to make their feelings known about the conflict through something that happens on stage. 

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Alphonsine Sefu