"Several European countries have announced that they will not participate in the next Eurovision Song Contest if Israel, which has taken part in the annual competition for half a century, is allowed to continue. On Tuesday, Spain joined the Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia in denouncing Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 65,000 people since October 2023, with many thousands more lost under the rubble and presumed dead, and announced that they will not take part if Israel continues to do so."
"Eurovision is an international song competition which takes place every year, primarily in European countries, and is televised. It has been running since 1956 and is one of the world's longest-running and most-watched non-sporting TV events. Each country performs an original song and the winner is determined by voting. The contest is organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), a collective of public broadcasters in more than 35 countries."
"Israel first took part in Eurovision in 1973 because its national broadcaster is a member of the EBU. Back then, Israel's national broadcaster was the Israel Broadcasting Authority; now it is the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, or Kan, and is still part of the EBU. Arabic-speaking countries have only taken part very rarely: Morocco participated only once in 1980 which was the only time an Arabic song featured in the contest."
Several European countries, including the Netherlands, Iceland, Ireland, Spain and Slovenia, have said they will not participate in Eurovision if Israel is allowed to continue competing. Spain joined other countries in denouncing Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 65,000 people since October 2023, with many thousands more presumed dead. Eurovision is an annual televised international song contest organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Any EBU-affiliated broadcaster in Europe can enter, enabling participation by countries such as Australia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Israel first entered in 1973; its current broadcaster is Kan. Arabic-speaking countries have rarely participated, with Morocco entering once in 1980, while Tunisia and Lebanon withdrew after refusing to air Israeli content. The next contest will take place in May 2026 in Vienna.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]